View the full graphic comic here.

PANEL 1:
Head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Ralph Abernathy, looks intensely at NASA’s chief administrator, Thomas O. Paine.

Text reads: Now, with a Moon landing mere days away, Abernathy was bringing NASA’s top man face to face with the poor.

PANEL 2:
Paine, smiling, shakes hands with President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Text reads: Thomas O. Paine was personally recruited by President Lyndon B. Johnson to become head of NASA just a few months before.

PANEL 3:
Paine stands next to a man who is pointing his index finger at a model of a large urban housing complex.

Text reads: Paine was not insensitive to the agenda of the poor people’s campaign. He’d worked previously with George Romney of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to see how NASA might work with HUD to improve the lives of the urban poor.

PANEL 4:
Abernathy is joined by three other men as they walk along the palm-tree-lined route to the space launch in Florida..

Text reads: Paine believed practical applications of NASA’s elite science could transform the living conditions of the neglected communities. He was confident we could all get there together…in time.

PANEL 5:
A group of people march alongside a mule drawn cart, carrying a large sign that reads “51st state of hunger.”

Text reads: Paine watched Abernathy and twenty-five poor families march across the field, hand in hand, singing, “we shall overcome.”

PANEL 6:
Under the hazy sun, two mule-drawn wagons move along, each draped with a white cloth. The cloth on one reads, , “I have seen the promised land,” and on the other, “Don’t laugh fools, Jesus was a poor man.”

Text reads: Their challenge to NASA’s other-worldly rockets was two sets of mules pulling shaky wagons. American had come so far and was still so close to its most detestable roots.

PANEL 7:
Paine and Abernathy address one another. Abernathy says, “on the eve of one of man’s noblest ventures, I am profoundly moved by our nation’s scientific achievements in space and by the heroism of the three men who are embarking for the moon.” 

Text reads: Standing with Paine and the press, and with Apollo 11 towering in the distance, Abernathy spoke.

PANEL 8:
A close-up of  Abernathy as he speaks, saying, “I have not come to Cape Kennedy merely to experience the thrill of this historic launching. I’m here to demonstrate in a symbolic way the tragic and inexcusable gulf between America’s technological abilities and our social injustice.”

PANEL 9:
Paine, responding to Abernathy., says, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’m here because you invited me to be here and because I want to be here. If it were possible for us tomorrow morning to not push the button and to solve the problems to which you are concerned…”

PANEL 10:
A close-up of Paine. He says, “…we would not push the button.”

PANEL 11:
Abernathy and Paine continue to speak as others around them listen. Paine says, “We would like to see you hitch wagons to our rockets and to tell the American people that the NASA program is an indication of what this country can do…to encourage this country to tackle many of its other problems.

PANEL 12:
Paine and Abernathy shake hands.

Text reads: 
The two men shook hands and stood briefly, getting to know each other and their hopes for the future. Paine asked Abernathy to say a word of prayer for the astronauts and the nation.

PANEL 13:
Abernathy stands to deliver a prayer among a group of spectators and journalists waiting for the launch of the rocket. He says, “As our brave, courageous heroes make their way to the moon tomorrow, may they never forget their suffering brothers and sisters down here on the earth. May they think about us tomorrow and pray for us as we will be praying for them.”

PANEL 14:
A crowd of white spectators stands on bleachers waiting for the rocket launch, some holding binoculars and handheld cameras.

Text reads: The next day, Abernathy attended the launch as Paine’s personal guest. Seated in the coveted VIP section, he and ten other Poor People’s Campaign delegates stood shoulder to shoulder with the most notable politicians and celebrities of the day. Abernathy addresses the gathered crowd, saying, “This is really holy ground…”

Abernathy continues to speak to an applauding crowd, saying, “But it will be even more holy once we feed the hungry and care for the sick and provide for those who do not have homes.”

Text reads: With holy ground beneath his feet, and a sea of stars in front of him...

PANEL 15: 
Smoke engulfs the Saturn V launch pad as the rocket, emitting a column of fire, lifts off.

Text reads: When the Saturn V launched at 9:32 a.m….

PANEL 16:
A close-up of Abernathy watching as the rocket ascends into the sky.

Text reads: Abernathy was looking up with the rest of the world. Abernathy would later say of that moment: “Just as the shot was made, I forgot for the first time since my youth that our nation is divided into two worlds, I lived in one world for a time.”

PANEL 17
Abernathy and Paine, smiling, stand and shake hands amongst the gathered crowd.

Text reads: In the rocket’s glare and with unprecedented media attention, it seemed, for a brief moment, as if a constituency of the poor had at last been embraced by ambassadors, senators and congressmen.

PANEL 18
Abernathy looks up towards the sky, shielding his eyes with his right hand from the glare.

Text reads: But the moment didn’t last long.

PANEL 19
The rocket leaves behind a long contrail of condensation in the sky.

Text reads: The sense of accomplishment dimmed as the Saturn V vanished into the morning sky.

PANEL 20
Abernathy stands with his other Black colleagues amongst the gathered VIP crowd on a bright blue morning, all looking at the rocket into the distance.

Text reads: “I realized the nation is divided into a world of affluence and plenty and a world of poverty and disease.”

PANEL 21
Abernathy and a colleague, their backs now turned to the launch, look  at the group of Poor People’s Campaign protestors holding banners, including the one that reads “51st State of Hunger.”

Text reads: The 51st state of hunger was not admitted to the union. The struggle continued.