In 1958, a nine year old boy walked into the public library in Lake City, South Carolina, and tried to check out a stack of books. He was told he couldn't, because the library was segregated and he was Black. That same library now bears his name. It is called the Ronald E. McNair Life History Center, and the boy who was turned away grew up to become a physicist, a NASA astronaut, and the second African American to fly in space.
Ron McNair earned a PhD in physics from MIT and joined NASA's astronaut program in 1978 at the age of 28. He flew his first mission aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger in February 1984, spending eight days in orbit alongside crewmates who performed the first untethered spacewalks in history. McNair was also a fifth degree black belt and a karate instructor, a husband, and a father of two. And he was a serious jazz saxophonist.
NASA astronaut Ronald E. McNair plays his saxophone while off-duty aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger during the STS-41B mission, February 8, 1984.
Before his second mission, McNair had been working with the French composer and electronic music pioneer Jean-Michel Jarre on a piece of music for Jarre's upcoming album Rendez-vous. The plan was extraordinary. McNair would record his saxophone solo while aboard the Challenger, in orbit, which would have made it the first original piece of music ever recorded in space. Jarre has said McNair was so excited about the piece that he rehearsed it continuously, right up until the last moment.
On January 28, 1986, the Challenger broke apart seventy three seconds after liftoff. All seven crew members were killed, McNair among them. He was 35. The recording was never made.
Jarre released the album anyway. The final track, "Last Rendez-vous," carries the subtitle "Ron's Piece," and the liner notes include a dedication: "May the memory of my friend the astronaut and artist Ron McNair live on through this piece."
McNair's name is now attached to a great deal more than that library. There is a crater on the moon named after him. The building at MIT that houses the Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research is named for him. So is a science center in his home state, along with schools across the country.
Ron is survived by Cheryl and their two children. Reflecting on her late husband, she remembered what he had said about seeing the Earth from space: "He described it as just so beautiful appearing without divisions or lines, peaceful he said."
You can listen to "Last Rendez-vous," also known as "Ron's Piece," below.
