It's another one of those things that we look forward to in civil rights - normal progression." He said that he had faced problems like other blacks, but "Perhaps I have been more fortunate than the others in the opportunities." Donald H. Lawrence and other MOL astronauts laughed when asked at the announcement "Will you have to sit in the back seat of the capsule?" When asked if his selection was historic for race relations in the United States, Lawrence answered "No, I don't think so. The same month, he was selected by the USAF as an astronaut in the Air Force's Manned Orbital Laboratory (MOL) program, thus becoming the country's first black astronaut. Air Force Test Pilot School (Class 66B) at Edwards AFB, California. In June 1967, Lawrence successfully completed the U.S. Barbara Cress Lawrence, Lawrence's widow, about her late husband's MOL experience. "MOL was particularly exciting for Bob because being in the program offered him an opportunity to do the two things he loved most-experimental science and flying". NASA cited Lawrence for accomplishments and flight maneuver data that "contributed greatly to the development of the Space Shuttle." Astronaut Lawrence flew many tests in the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter to investigate the gliding flight of various unpowered spacecraft returning to Earth from orbit, such as the North American X-15 rocket-plane. He was a senior USAF pilot, accumulating well over 2,500 flight hours, 2,000 of which were in jets. His doctoral thesis was The Mechanism Of The Tritium Beta Ray Induced Exchange Reaction Of Deuterium With Methane and Ethane In The Gas Phase. In 1965, Lawrence earned a PhD in physical chemistry from Ohio State University. By the time he was 25, he had completed an Air Force assignment as an instructor pilot in the T-33 training aircraft for the German Air Force. Air Force pilot after completing flight training at Malden Air Force Base, Missouri.Īt 22, he married Barbara Cress, daughter of Dr. Air Force Lawrence during hisĪt the age of 21, he was designated as a U.S. At Bradley, Lawrence became a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity and distinguished himself as Cadet Commander in the Air Force ROTC and received the commission of second lieutenant in the Air Force Reserve Program. Four years later in 1956, he graduated from Bradley University with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry. Early years īorn and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Lawrence attended Haines Elementary School and, at age sixteen, graduated in the top 10 percent from Englewood High School in 1952. (Octo– December 8, 1967) was a United States Air Force officer and the first African-American astronaut.
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