Gregory, Frederick Drew

Impact on the world

Became the first African American to pilot a space shuttle in 1985, flying the Challenger on the STS-51B Spacelab mission, before becoming the first African American to command any spaceflight in 1989 aboard Discovery's classified STS-33 Department of Defense mission and commanding a third flight, STS-44, aboard Atlantis in 1991, logging more than 455 hours in space across his three-mission career; he went on to become NASA's first Black Deputy Administrator in 2002 and briefly served as the agency's first Black Acting Administrator in 2005 during the transition between Sean O'Keefe and Michael Griffin. Gregory was the nephew of Charles Drew, already profiled in this collection for his pioneering blood plasma and transfusion research, through his mother Nora Drew Gregory, herself a lifelong educator and public library advocate; he was selected into NASA's historic 1978 astronaut class alongside fellow Black astronauts Guion Bluford and Ronald McNair, the three becoming NASA's first African Americans in space.

Life & background

Born in Washington, D.C. in 1941 to Francis Gregory, an educator and the first Black president of the city's Public Library Board of Trustees, and Nora Drew Gregory, Charles Drew's sister, Gregory grew up in a family already making history in segregated Washington and developed an early fascination with flight after attending air shows as a teenager. After briefly attending Amherst College and American University, he enrolled at the United States Air Force Academy on the nomination of New York Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, earning his degree in military engineering in 1964 before training as a helicopter pilot and flying 550 combat rescue missions during the Vietnam War, work that earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross; he later transitioned to fixed-wing aircraft, an unusual reversal of the typical astronaut career path, and attended the Navy Test Pilot School before working as an engineering test pilot, ultimately logging roughly 7,000 hours across more than 50 aircraft types. The Air Force initially resisted submitting his NASA application since most of his flight experience was in helicopters rather than high-performance jets, but Gregory, encouraged directly by Tuskegee Airman and first Black Air Force general Benjamin Davis, already profiled in this collection, was prepared to resign his commission entirely rather than abandon his childhood dream; NASA selected him in 1978 regardless. He served as lead capsule communicator during the 1986 Challenger disaster, worked in numerous NASA safety and operations roles after his final flight, and was appointed Deputy Administrator in 2002, a position from which he briefly became Acting Administrator in 2005; he retired from NASA later that year, was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2004, and continues working as a speaker, advisor, and consultant, having returned permanently to Washington, the city generations of his family helped shape.

Sources

1. National Air and Space Museum; NASA official biography; The HistoryMakers; Encyclopedia.com; The Black Astronaut Research Project; Good Black News