Congratulations to Emmy-award winning producer Laurens Grant on her film Black In Space: Breaking the Color Barrier that will air on the Smithsonian Channel February 24th.

Following the screening of the film in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture’s Oprah Winfrey Theater, PBS NewsHour White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor moderated a panel about the film that included Grant, Curator Damion Thomas, PhD, Major General Charles F. Bolden, Jr., USMC (Ret.) 12th NASA Administrator, and Col. Frederick D. Gregory, USAF (Ret.), Former Astronaut and NASA Deputy Administrator.

America’s experiences during the Civil Rights Movement and the Space Race are well documented. However, few know about the decades-long battle between the U.S. and the Soviet Union to be the first superpower to bring diversity to the skies. Grant’s documentary shines a light on the astronauts who were part of this little-known chapter of the Cold War and the race to put the first black astronaut into orbit.

Producer Laurens Grant is a 3-time Emmy and Peabody award-winning filmmaker and a Sundance Institute filmmaker fellow. Her filmmaking career has taken her all over the world, including the United States, Latin America, Europe and Africa. Grant worked with the award-winning team of Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog for the 7-part series on The Nineties.