Guest Editorial: Ed Dwight’s flight at last!

Former NASA astronaut Ed Dwight poses for a portrait to promote the National Geographic documentary film “The Space Race” during the Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour, Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, at The Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello) Credit:& Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP & On the Detroit riverfront, there’s a statue of people frozen in time: they are in flight from slavery, waiting to cross the river to Canada. The monument, entitled “Gateway to Freedom: International Memorial to the Underground Railroad” and created by sculptor Ed Dwight, was dedicated in 2001, and is one of his nationwide landmarks.& & On May 19, Dwight, 90, traveled into space as a passenger on Jeff Bezos’ “Blue Origin” mission, and completed a journey he was denied 63 years ago as a prospective first African American astronaut. Stepping from the capsule, after less than 10 minutes in flight, Dwight threw his arms into the air and exclaimed, “I’m ecstatic!”& Like the creation of the monuments on which he has worked tirelessly over the years, Dwight was a candidate in the NASA space program but was rejected, he believed, because of a racist commander. He resigned from the Air Force in 1966 and...