OK, a bit of history. And a "what if?"
December, 1967. A bad year for NASA and black-white relations.
I felt the tensions then in east Philly.
We did have riots in our hood after MLK was killed 4 months later.
But in December, 1967, the first black astronaut to be selected augered into the ground
in his F-104. I'm sorry that I forgot the gentleman's name.
What if he avoided that terrible fate in that month and year?
Would LBJ have put him on the Apollo 8 crew?
LBJ had the authority.