Resupply Spacecraft Named for First African American Astronaut

By Bob Granath

On Feb. 15, 2020, a Northrop Grumman spacecraft was launched atop an Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Cygnus capsule, christened the “S.S. Robert H. Lawrence,” will deliver more than 7,400 pounds of cargo to the International Space Station. The name honors the first African American to be selected as an astronaut.

The U.S. Air Force announced on June 30, 1967 that Maj. Robert H. Lawrence Jr. had been chosen as part of the third group of pilots for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory. The military MOL Program, which was cancelled in 1969, involved a small, single-use space station in which crews would launch and land in an advanced Gemini spacecraft.

During a news conference announcing his appointment with three other Air Force pilots, Lawrence commented modestly on the significance of his selection.

“This is nothing dramatic,” he said. “It’s just a normal progression. I’ve been very fortunate.”

Lawrence lost his life in a training accident at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on Dec.8, 1967.

On the 50th anniversary of his death, NASA leaders and the Astronauts Memorial Foundation (AMF) honored Lawrence in a ceremony on Dec. 18, 2017. The event took place in the Center for Space Education at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The observance was hosted by the AMF, which pays tribute to “those who died advancing the cause of space exploration.”

“Maj. Lawrence truly was a hero,” said, Kennedy’s Director Bob Cabana, who also was a Space Shuttle astronaut. “He took that first step setting the stage for what was to come.”

The memorial tribute included remarks by former NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, the first African-American to serve in the agency’s top position.

“His leadership was recognized early,” said Bolden who also was a NASA astronaut. “In his days in the Air Force ROTC Program at Bradley University he was selected as a cadet commander.”

Lawrence’s sister, Barbara Lawrence, Ph.D., spoke of the closeness of her family and the values that were instilled in them.

“Your word is your bond and you do what you say you are going to do,” she said.

Also participating in the ceremony were Eileen Collins, chair of the AMF board of directors and a former NASA astronaut, as well as Bob Crippen, former Kennedy center director and NASA astronaut. Also speaking was James Abrahamson, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant general who was a MOL astronaut. He later was associate administrator of NASA and served as director of the Strategic Defense Initiative.

The Air Force Manned Orbiting Laboratory Program was a collaborative effort with the National Reconnaissance Office to photograph ground sites of America’s Cold War adversaries. Started in August 1965, the plan was for a series of small space stations together with modified Gemini capsules to be launched into a polar orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Two-man crews would have operated MOL stations for up to 30 days.

A Chicago native, Lawrence graduated from high schol in 1952 when he was only 16. By the age of 20 he earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois. A year later he became a pilot in the U.S. Air Force after completing flight training at Malden Air Force Base, Missouri. Lawrence went on to earn a doctorate in physical chemistry from Ohio State University In 1965.

As a test pilot, Lawrence often flew the F-104 Starfighter to investigate the gliding flight of various unpowered spacecraft returning to Earth from orbit. The research contributed to the experimental operations of the X-15 rocket plane and the development of the Space Shuttle.

Six months after his selection as an astronaut for the MOL Program, Lawrence was killed in an F-104 crash during a training exercise while flying backseat on the mission as the instructor pilot for a flight test trainee learning the steep-descent glide technique.

“He was involved in development of the maneuver that would become a critical part of Space Shuttle landing techniques called ‘flare,'” Bolden said.

When the MOL was cancelled in 1969, seven of the 16 Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps astronauts selected for the program and who were under the age of 35 transferred to NASA. All flew Space Shuttle missions.

Had he lived, Lawrence “would have been one of the MOL astronauts who came to NASA,” Cabana said.

Lawrence’s name was added to the AMF’s Space Mirror Memorial at the Kennedy visitor complex during a ceremony on Dec. 8, 1997.

The Space Mirror Memorial was dedicated in 1991 to honor the lives of those who died while serving in America’s space programs. At the time of Lawrence’s death, the Air Force policy required a flight in space before the award of the astronaut rating. However, on Jan. 2, 1997, the Astronaut Memorial Foundation made a formal request for the Air Force to reconsider Lawrence’s case. In light of the importance of his selection and the unfortunate circumstances of his death, the Air Force retroactively designated Lawrence an astronaut.

The AMF is a private, not-for-profit organization that honors and memorializes astronauts who sacrificed their lives for the nation and the space program. AMF built and maintains the Space Mirror Memorial and the Center for Space Education at the Kennedy visitor complex.

No copyright is claimed for this feature that appeared in its original form on NASA.gov on Dec. 18, 2017 at:

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/robert-lawrence-honored-in-50th-anniversary-memorial-ceremony