Dr. Ronald E. McNair
Ronald McNair Auditorium
A native of Lake City, South Carolina, Ronald McNair graduated magna cum laude from North Carolina A&T State University, receiving the prestigious honor of Presidential Scholar. While at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), McNair performed some of the earliest developments of chemical HF/DF and high pressure CO lasers. Following graduation from MIT in 1976, McNair became a staff physicist with Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California. In January 1978, he was selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA. After completing the one-year training and evaluation period, McNair became eligible for assignment as a mission specialist astronaut on future Space Shuttle flights. McNair’s first flight as a mission specialist was aboard STS 41-B which launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on February 3, 1984. McNair’s second mission took place January 28, 1986 aboard the Orbiter Challenger, which was launched from Kennedy Space Center as well. Unfortunately, McNair and the six other crew members perished after the ill-fated Challenger exploded one minute and 13 seconds after launch.