Ronald McNair
Ronald Erwin McNair (October 21, 1950 - January 28, 1986) was one of the astronauts killed on the last flight of the Space Shuttle Challenger.
McNair received a B.S. in physics from North Carolina A&T State University in 1967, and a Ph.D. in the same discipline from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976. He was also honored with honorary doctorates in 1978, 1980 and 1984.
He was a 5th-degree black belt karate instructor and had won five regional championships. Among a myriad of other studies in the field of physics, McNair had conducted research on the scientific foundations of the martial arts.
After graduation from MIT, he became a staff physicist at the Hughes Research Laboratories. He was selected for the astronaut program in 1978, and had flown a mission on the Challenger in February, 1984, also as a mission specialist.
McNair was a saxophonist, and was to have recorded the first piece of music in space on the mission, composed by Jean Michel Jarre.