Ed Dwight, a fighter pilot who nearly became the first African American astronaut had an outstanding military record, and the Kennedy administration was keen for NASA to have an African American astronaut....

After passing his medical exam, Dwight was sent to Chuck Yeager’s flight school, the testing ground for potential astronauts...

...According to Dwight, Yeager pulled all the instructors into a room and ordered them not to speak to Dwight, not to interact or provide advice to him, and not to socialize with him outside of the base. Yeager’s reason was that he didn’t want “a colored guy” to be an astronaut.