"Black Astronaut Sparks Conversation on Race in Space"

NASA astronaut Victor Glover, the pilot of the Artemis II mission around the Moon, listens to Gil Scott-Heron's poem "Whitey on the Moon" twice a week on the way to work. The poem criticizes investment in space when Black people in the U.S. couldn't afford health care. Glover believes it's important to listen to spaceflight skeptics and recognize and respect them. Many NASA astronauts have historically avoided speaking out on politically charged topics, but that has changed in recent years.