Excerpt: Dr. Ronald McNair on astronaut candidacy--outtakes

the soffits candidate is primarily a formality 35 people were chosen to serve as space shuttle astronauts as scientists or pilots and we entered a two-year training program which at the end of the two year the official for the title candidate will be moved it is a means for one to discontinue the program if he or she desires our let's say be discontinued as she so desired but in fact 35 people will be space shuttle candidates that's more of a formality than any other significance okay well given the desire and motivation to be involved in space exploration and an interest in that area a couple years ago NASA began the canvass the country for space shuttle astronauts and I saw one of these so that they were looking for scientists who did not necessarily have military backgrounds and I fitted all the qualifications I made my application along with 8,000 other people and went through the various screening processes and came out on in decent shape from a historical point of view I'd say that has lots of significance in that it's the first time or it has not been a part of the NASA program in the past it has significance in the point of view that it gives black people ads it's such a pride that we are moving into other areas and moving up into more attractive in areas where we can make broader impact however from an operational point of view it has zero significance because it's time to fly a multibillion-dollar spacecraft NASA will not put a dummy at this control regardless of what color is its qualification that matters and it's time to function in space capacity inside in space then what color you are what sexy ah has nothing to do with anything so operationally it has no significance right now I've gonna get on and completed most of the basic training coursework survival trainings basic Space Sciences basic fundamental knowledge that one needs to know in space training right now myself and other astronaut trainees are participate are working on technical assignment which involve various aspects of the shuttle I all main objectives is to get the full shuttle flying as soon as possible we have different assignments one person may be involved in space shuttle avionics another person may be involved in design and we spread to work out among the numerous people is tomato maybe another couple of years or so we have another year of the basic two years training one year of specialized training and get mission assignments no question about it some of that interest has been revitalized even before the shuttle gets off the ground and this is a whole new area it will not have the glamour and the magic that the Apollo did because of the uniqueness of it however the shuttle is going to be so far-reaching it's going to affect us in so many different ways until one cannot help but be interested in at least curious as to what's going on shinsen Paulo Germany Mercury of the past and shuttle of the present is that those exploration of flights were exploratory the shuttle is more of a practical and functional type of space mission where on the shuttle will be that will be involve and the deployment and retrieval of practical satellites that will have direct beneficent benefits in the way of Earth Observation there will be research going on in the Space Lab and there will benefit us in the way of medical technical communications and just a whole variety of goods so this is more practically oriented for the good of people around the world and it gave us another point it has international participation and space shuttle flight