this is "nightline." >> juju: tonight, dogs in danger. videos like this going viral. a woman clinging to the hood of this car with her stolen french bulldog inside. >> i thought i was going to die. i thought i could fall off the

car any second. >> juju: why frenchies, america's most popular pooch, are a top target for thieves. >> a puppy can go from $3,000 to $10,000. >> juju: pet owners sounding the alarm, faced with losing their dogs or their lives. >> he was, "give me your dog or i'm going to kill you." >> juju: how you can keep you and your prized pup safe. hidden history. >> i should have known about it. he could have been one of those men walking on the moon. >> juju: the new documentary chronicling the rarely seen journey of black astronauts. >> my hope was getting in the space in any kind of way. they were not going to let that happen. >> juju: the hate they faced in the midst of the space race. >> reports were being written that black people were incapable of learning enough to fly in space. >> juju: met the man who helped pave the way. ♪ ♪ this ain't texas ain't no hold 'em ♪ >> juju: beyonce trailblazing with "hold 'em."

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some owners desperate to find their stolen french bulldogs. america's most popular and pricey pups. frenchies are known for their sweet faces and snub noses, but that popularity increased, turning them into a

target for dognappers, leaving their owners heartbroken and sometimes resorting to risking their lives to get them back. >> i thought i was going to die, i thought i could fall off the car any second. >> the love for man's best friend driving one woman to risk her life. this desperate dog owner going viral by clinging to the hood of a speeding car. her beloved french bulldog trapped inside. >> i absolutely didn't think somebody could possibly just take my dog away from me, and it feels like the whole thing was in slow motion, ali zacharias says. >> thieves snatched her one year old frenchie onyx as they ate lunch outside in downtown los angeles on january 18th. >> i ran in front of the car. i just sort of grab on to the windshield wipers and i just decided to, like, hold on. i just didn't expect to be in fight mode. like indiana jones, her dog still missing the last three and a half weeks. >> pure torture for ali. >> it really is a nightmare. um, it's starting to feel like that anyway, day by day, i thought, you know, i would never be a

target. >> ali's ordeal, part of a rising number of dog thefts nationwide. the sweet natured frenchy's at the top of the target list for thieves. according to experts. the dog napping is making headlines across the country from washington, d.c, d.c. woman is devastated and pleading for help after her dog was stolen right out of her arms to pennsylvania. >> i heard him say, this is a home invasion and that's what he said. where's the dog? >> and in gardena, california, a dozen purebred french bulldog puppies were swiped overnight from a pet store with surveillance cameras capturing the alleged robbers, tossing the pups into the back of a white van. >> last year. in 2023, twice as many french bulldogs were reported stolen to us as the next breed. tom sharp is president and ceo of a pet recovery service america kennel club reunite and says owner reported dog nappings to his company are up 140% since 2020. french bulldog by far is the

most targeted breed. they're great family dogs, so they're very desirable, but at the same time they're also very expensive. so a bulldog puppy can go anywhere from, um, 3000 to $10,000 to try to buy one. and that's beyond a lot of people's means. yet they still want one. >> other factors driving up their cost frenchies can be difficult to breed. most females need artificial insemination, and caesarea in sections to have puppies, and the average litter produces just three pups, typically fewer than other breeds. despite that, two years ago french bulldogs nudged out labrador retrievers to become america's top dog. their hallmark snub noses seem ready made for instagram with celebrities like reese witherspoon and dwayne the rock johnson posting their pooches. some dogs are even becoming influencers themselves, like izzy, the frenchie and gus. gus and marty, a pair of bulldog

brothers. but even celebrity eyes aren't immune from dognappers. perhaps the most famous frenchie theft was when thieves attacked lady gaga's dog walker in 2021. she shooting him and stealing two of her frenchies. the dog walker recovered the pooches were returned, and the shooter sentence it to 21 years in prison. still a sign of desperate times as dog owner tiffani worthy from washington, d.c. knows that fear and danger firsthand, and my thoughts was, i just can't believe this. >> i can't believe this is happening to me. >> me security video from late november shows tiffany coming back home from a walk to the store with her frenchie hendrix. seconds later, a man gets out of a black car from the street below, following her armed with a taser. >> the criminal approached me and that's when he was like, give me your dog or i'm going to kill you. >> frightened and stunned,

tiffany sinks down onto the stairs. >> i did fear for my life. i couldn't make out what he had in his hand. but when someone is threatening your life, you know you just in shock. he put him in the in the back seat and you know, i was just laughing and drove away. >> tiffany soon calling 911, all the while worried about what would happen to hendrix. >> what type of environment was he in, you know, is he eating? so all those thoughts that were going through my mind was wondering if i was going to get him back, if i was ever going to see him again. >> for tiffany, hendrix has been a support system after the tragic and unexpected death of her previous dog, memphis. i was not sure if i wanted another dog . >> after the passing of memphis and it was just unbearable coming home. um um, to no one in, my friend gifted me with hendrix and i think that was the

best gift ever. so i needed that . >> after that precious gift was stolen, tiffany quickly tapped into social media to spread awareness about hendrix. two days later, she says she got a message and voicemail from a woman via instagram. >> she showed me a picture of him like, yes, that's my dog. she bought him off the street for $900. >> she's funny because your dog snores. he's just feels so safe now. when i first got him, he was shaking in my arms when i saw the picture of him, i felt relief, you know? >> i was like, okay, yes, that's my dog. like, what do you want? you know? and she mentioned that she, she just wanted the money that she paid for to get him back. >> d.c. police and a private investigator helped tiffany coordinate hendrix is safe. return home, bring it back, bring it back. >> you know, seeing his perky ears, you know, and he'll come to me and all happy, you know,

just made my day having him back. never taking him for granted, never taking his hugs, his kisses, his never take that for granted. and to play. >> so far there have been no arrests in the case. d.c. police say it remains active. >> pet theft usually falls into property theft, and so as impactful as that is for the family, usually under the law, it's not going to be a very high dollar crime. >> so what can dog owners, especially frenchie families, do to keep their pets safe? >> we recommend three things that people think about. >> number one microchip and enroll your pet. number two, don't leave your pet outside unsupervised. number three, we think be careful with social media. you say, hey, i'll be at the park at 2:00 today with my beautiful little french bulldog puppy. you're almost inviting strangers to take that dog from you. just be vigilant and just go over the different scenarios in your head as to what you

would do in these situations. >> just try to be prepared for anything. come on. i don't walk hendrix in my neighborhood anymore. morning >> now taking steps to protect hendrix from this happening ever again. >> and the reason why i decided for him to be neutered is for his safety. i think this would deter these. >> back in los angeles, ali's wounds from falling off the car hood have healed and an arrest in her case initially sparked hope. but she still doesn't have onyx. >> we have trouble sleeping. we are trying to figure out what we can do to be proactive every second, but we need to make sure that this dog comes back already . >> when we returned the hidden man in the space race finally front and center >> i told myself

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♪ >> juju: in the modern world of spacex and blue origin, sometimes it's hard to remember what it first took to land a man on the moon and who was said to have the right stuff. a new documentary tells the rarely told stories of the prejudice faced by black astronauts and how they persisted. here's my "nightline" coanchor byron pitts. >> byron: how does it strike you when people refer to you as a hidden figure? >> well, you know, it's true. you know, i'll take that, a hidden figure thing. the good news is that the world is hearing about this. >> byron: his story almost lost to history. ed dwight, the first-ever

african american astronaut candidate nominated by president john f. kennedy. >> at the time, we only had 125 black pilots in the entire world. and they had to have an engineering degree. they had to be under 30. >> byron: he was 27. the air force captain met all the qualifications and then some. but a segregated america wasn't ready to see a black man in space. >> i thought it was an error on the part of president kennedy to appoint one person. here i'm supposed to carry all the load of a whole race of people. >> i should have known about ed dwight. that he could have been one of those men walking on the moon. that should have been in my history books, but it wasn't. >> nasa wanted to show they were engaged in equality for all -- >> byron: now in 2024, ed's story is front and center. new "national geographic" documentary "the space race." the film chronicling the largely unseen and untold history of black astronauts.

former nasa astronaut lila melvin is one of the film's subjects and executive producer. >> i said look, we've got to get everyone to put their heart and soul into this movie to tell what really happened. >> leland was our ambassador to this very tightly knit group of people. >> the most incredible thing was the access to the astronauts. and being allowed to be inside their community. there's no experts on the space program or historians that talk for them. it's really their story told in their own words. >> reporter: in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the world was obsessed with the so-called space race between the u.s. and the soviet union. in the backdrop of extraordinary human advancement, america was still tainted by the stain of racism and jim crow. but a young, newly elected president was eager to make a change. >> we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. >> president kennedy called the

chief of staff and asked him, how long would it take you to make me a black astronaut? the reply was, five years. kennedy said, no, i want some stuff on my desk by friday. i didn't want to have any part of it in the beginning. i said, no, i've got a very comfortable air force career, i'm flying five airplanes, i'm on the wing staff, i'm just doing great. >> byron: ed's mother gave her son a talk that would change the course of history. >> my mom intervened and said, you better do it because there's an opportunity to raise the status of the race. and so that's why i took on this mission. and i looked at it as a mission. >> byron: he received an outpouring of love from black america. >> i'm getting 1,500 letters a day. i'm on the cover of magazines around the world. >> byron: but his nomination frowned upon even by some within the black community. >> and it said, number one, i wasn't tall enough, i was catholic, i wasn't black enough, i was not the model of the negro race.

the forces of darkness pretty much had their way. >> byron: forces of darkness? >> reports were being written that black people were incapable of learning enough to fly in space. and coming out were reports where i was physically and i was intellectually inferior . >> byron: his own commander, chuck yeager, the pilot who broke the sound barrier in 1947 -- >> he says, "kennedy is trying to cram the "n" word down our throats, and we don't want him to graduate." he gave scenarios about putting me into orbit, leaving me up there. these are real things that this guy was saying to me. >> byron: yeager, who died in 2020, reportedly denied ed's claims. the isolation ed says he experienced paralleling that of one of his contemporaries, mathematician katherine johnson, whose story was portrayed in the

oscar-nominated film "hidden figures." >> there's no bathroom for me here. >> what do you mean? >> there is no bathroom. there are no colored bathrooms in this building. or any building outside the west campus. which is half a mile away. >> if katherine johnson hadn't had to walk so far to use the bathroom, would we have gotten to the moon faster? because all that time walking back and forth, she could have been solving problems and calculating, and maybe we would have got there faster. if ed had been given the opportunity to be that person on the moon? >> byron: ed's space dreams would ultimately be dashed in 1963 after not being picked for nasa's astronaut class. a month later, his biggest ally, president kennedy, shot and killed in dallas. >> when kennedy was killed in 1963, he was basically booted out of the program. >> byron: the space race also explores the years after ed's

candidacy, including the emergence of space themes in black culture. >> when people think of the space race, they typically don't think about afro futurism. >> byron: the lyrics explored in earth, wind & fire. and parliament ♪ >> watching this spaceship rise off the station while this music is playing, funky boots, glasses, shiny uniforms -- that was kind of putting this space thing in me and i didn't even know it. >> byron: the >> she was working for nasa as a consultant to get women and minorities to apply to become astronauts. >> this is your nasa. >> byron: and history would catch up 20 years later.

colonel buy bluford the first african american man ever to launch into space in 1983. how did it hit your spirit when men like colonel bluford became astronauts? >> they kept telling me all the time i was in the program under consideration, you're 20 years too soon. and it turns out that it was almost 20 years to the month that colonel bluford went up. and so i said in my brain, they were right. my job was to open that conversation. >> byron: that conversation continuing today. there are now 17 african american astronauts who have been to space with others waiting in the wings. ed ultimately found his place in the world following his air force career, becoming a renowned sculptor, inspired by figures of history who were hidden to him in his youth in segregated kansas city. >> i had a white education. i'd never heard of harry tubman until i was 43 years old. frederick douglass.

george orson carver. i started, tell him the story. 132 black memorials and public art pieces around this country that i did. >> byron: now that everyone knows who you are and your mama always knew, what do you want your legacy to be? >> i was a guy that caused people to stop and think about who they are, what they have to offer the world. on top of all that stuff, he was really a nice guy, and that's really important. >> juju: our thanks to byron. "the space race" is streaming now on disney plus and hulu. when we come back, beyonce holds them on a whole new apple playlist. ♪ ♪ this ain't texas ain't no hold 'em ♪ ♪ lay your cards downtown downtown down ♪ ♪ lay your cards downtown downtown down ♪ ♪ detect this:

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>> juju: finally tonight, beyonce breaking records again. ♪ this ain't texas ain't no hold 'em ♪ >> juju: "texas hold 'em" on the top of apple music's country playlist, a first for a black woman. the texas native returning to her roots by dropping not one but two country songs on super bowl sunday. ♪ 16 carriages ♪ >> juju: the second an anthem of empowerment through hard times. the