Ronald Erwin McNair (1950 - 1986)

Born 21 Oct 1950 in Lake City, Florence, South Carolina, United States

Ancestors

Died 28 Jan 1986 at age 35 in Cape Canaveral, Brevard, Florida, United States

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Biography

Ronald McNair is Notable.

Ronald Erwin McNair was an American physicist and NASA astronaut. He flew on two Challenger space shuttle missions as a mission specialist and was the second African-American man in space. He died when the Challenger exploded during his second mission.^[1]

Ronald was born in Lake City, South Carolina in 1950. He was the son of Carl McNair and Pearl Montgomery.^{[2][3] [4][5][6]} Ronad was raised along with two brothers in Lake City where he graduated from Carver High School. Highlights of his career were:

1971	Bachelor of Science in Engineering Physics, North Carolina A&T State University.
1976	Ph.D. in Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
1978	Selected by NASA in Astronauts Group 8. [7]
1984	Flew on Challenger STS-41-B as MS3 with Vance Brand, Robert L. Gibson, Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart. Awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal. [8]
	STS-41-B	NASA Space Flight
1986	Flew on Challenger STS-51-L as MS3 with Dick Scobee, Michael J. Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Christa McAuliffe and Gregory Jarvis. Awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. [8] Died in the crash resulting from the explosion of the Challenger.
	STS-51-L	NASA Distinguished Service
2004	Awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. [9]	Congressional Space Medal of Honor

Ronald was survived by a wife and two small children.^[10]

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia: Ronald McNair
2. ↑ NASA Bio for Ronald McNair
3. ↑ Obituary, The Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, North Carolina, 30 Jan 1986, Thu, p. 28. Free View of Clipping
4. ↑ "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J28G-RMZ : 20 May 2014), Ronald Mcnair, Jan 1986; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
5. ↑ Mother's Obituary, The State, Columbia, South Carolina, 21 Aug 1993, Sat, p. 18 Free View of Image
6. ↑ Father's Obituary, The Atlanta Constitution, Atlanta, Georgia, 24 Jun 1992, Wed, Page 38 Newspaper Clipping, Obituary
7. ↑ Wikipedia List of Astronauts, by Year
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} Agency Awards Historical Recipient List
9. ↑ Congressional Space Medal of Honor Recipients
10. ↑ Obituary, The Desert Sun, Palm Springs, California, 29 Jan 1986, We, p. 3 Free View of Image

See also:

• Wikidata: Item Q315730, en:Wikipedia
• Find A Grave: Memorial #7693
• https://bahaipedia.org/Ronald_McNair Ronald McNair on Bahaipedia]