Meet the California Space Engineer Whose Camera Captured the Earth’s Curvature for the First Time
A new exhibit ensures he’s no longer a “hidden figure.”
Excerpt: Ironically one Southern California pioneer, who’s achieved his dreams, actually followed a path that intersected with both of those American icons. 83-year-old Shelby Jacobs of Oceanside is being honored at the Columbia Memorial Space Center in Downey, with the facility’s first-ever exhibit dedicated solely to one man and his mission. It’s also the first time any space center has honored a black man. “The exhibit is beyond my wildest dreams,” says the modest engineer.
Breaking barriers has been part of Shelby’s life for as long as he can remember. Growing up in the white suburbs of the Santa Clarita Valley, he had no black role models at all. But that didn’t stop him from becoming senior class president and playing varsity in three sports. It was being a hurdler, in particular, that taught him the most valuable lesson. Exceling in science and math led to a scholarship at UCLA, where his goal was to study engineering. When Shelby’s school principal told him there were no black engineers and that instead he should “take a trade,” that’s not exactly what the ambitious senior heard.