The Space Race

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The Space Race

2023

1h 31m

Documentary

Biography

History

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Popcornmeter

88%

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16 Reviews

83%

Popcornmeter

Fewer than 50 Ratings

THE SPACE RACE weaves together the stories of Black astronauts seeking to break the bonds of social injustice to reach for the stars, including Guion Bluford, Ed Dwight and Charles Bolden, among many others. In THE SPACE RACE, directors Diego Hurtado de Mendoza and Lisa Cortés profile the pioneering Black pilots, scientists and engineers who joined NASA to serve their country in space, even as their country failed to achieve equality for them back on Earth. From 1963, when the assassination of JFK thwarted Captain Ed Dwight's quest to reach the moon, to 2020, when the echoes of the civil unrest sparked by the killing of George Floyd reached the International Space Station, the story of African Americans at NASA is a tale of world events colliding with the aspirations of uncommon men. The bright dreams of Afrofuturism become reality in THE SPACE RACE, turning science fiction into science fact and forever redefining what "the right stuff" looks like, giving us new heroes to celebrate and a fresh history to explore.

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Devika Girish

New York Times

02/14/2024

For the most part, “The Space Race” doesn’t quite interrogate these tokenizing narratives, leaving the central question unaddressed: Can the glorified achievements of a few result in change for the many?

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Tim Cogshell

FilmWeek (LAist)

02/13/2024

This is just a fantastic doc that I thoroughly enjoyed.

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Brian Lowry

CNN.com

02/12/2024

From the title to the execution, this National Geographic presentation has the right stuff.

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Erik Childress

Movie Madness Podcast

02/19/2024

3.5/4

Even as a student who has been fascinated with and absorbed the space program since seeing The Right Stuff as a kid, this was an eye-opening lens into the whitewashed history that has only recently come into focus.

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Sabrina McFarland

Common Sense Media

02/14/2024

Documentarians Diego Hurtado de Mendoza and Lisa Cortés offer an informative film journey about Black aerospace history.

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Vikram Murthi

The Daily Beast

02/12/2024

While the film broadly achieves its aim of correcting a biased historical record by allowing primary historical actors to control their respective narratives, it falters structurally and tonally by adopting too broad a scope of inquiry.

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Dakota M

@RT68555319 06/15/2024

Thoughful retelling of a story I didn't know.

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Angelo R

@RT61287290 04/17/2024

An enjoyable documentary. Learned a lot about a story easily looked over.

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Tom M

@RT04202891 02/14/2024

A really interesting, unknown story, well told.

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Lisa Cortes

Director

Diego Hurtado de Mendoza

Director

Ed Dwight

Self

Guion Bluford

Self

Charles Bolden

Self

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Self

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Synopsis

THE SPACE RACE weaves together the stories of Black astronauts seeking to break the bonds of social injustice to reach for the stars, including Guion Bluford, Ed Dwight and Charles Bolden, among many others. In THE SPACE RACE, directors Diego Hurtado de Mendoza and Lisa Cortés profile the pioneering Black pilots, scientists and engineers who joined NASA to serve their country in space, even as their country failed to achieve equality for them back on Earth. From 1963, when the assassination of JFK thwarted Captain Ed Dwight's quest to reach the moon, to 2020, when the echoes of the civil unrest sparked by the killing of George Floyd reached the International Space Station, the story of African Americans at NASA is a tale of world events colliding with the aspirations of uncommon men. The bright dreams of Afrofuturism become reality in THE SPACE RACE, turning science fiction into science fact and forever redefining what "the right stuff" looks like, giving us new heroes to celebrate and a fresh history to explore.

Director: Lisa Cortes, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza
Producer: Keero Singh Birla, Alex Bowen, Lisa Cortes, Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, Aly Parker, Mark Monroe
Screenwriter: Mark Monroe
Production Co: National Geographic Documentary Films, National Geographic, The Kennedy/Marshall Company, Diamond Docs
Genre: Documentary, Biography, History
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Feb 13, 2024
Runtime: 1h 31m