Ed Dwight, first Black astronaut, reflects on his career at age 90

Accomplished Air Force pilot Ed Dwight was primed by John F. Kennedy to be the first Black astronaut when he ran into discrimination. He is now recognized as a pioneer at 90.

"My first flight was the most exhilarating thing in the world," says Dwight, smiling. "There were no streets or stop signs up there. You were free as a bird."

It would be years before Dwight entertained the idea of himself becoming a pilot. "It was the white man’s domain," he says. But while in college, he saw in a newspaper, above the fold, an image of a downed Black pilot in Korea.