Astronaut Ronald McNair, who died 25 years ago today in the space shuttle Challenger explosion, was a graduate of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. McNair was a member of the class of 1971, and appears a couple of times in the 1971 edition of the The Ayantee, the student yearbook. His senior photo is at left, and a photo from the school karate club is below.

Many of the stories marking the 25th anniversary of the Challenger explosion mention McNair, who was only the second African American to enter space. The piece that ran this morning on NPR has an especially good story about an early act of courage at a public library in South Carolina.