ISS20th: Cygnus Spacecraft Honors Robert Lawrence

On Jan. 20, 2020, as the nation celebrated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday, Northrup Grumman announced the christening of its latest Cygnus spacecraft, the “S.S. Robert H. Lawrence,” after Maj. Robert H. Lawrence Jr., the first African American selected as an astronaut for any national spaceflight program. The U.S. Air Force selected Lawrence on June 30, 1967, as a member of the third group of aerospace research pilots for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program. Of the significance of his selection, Lawrence said with his typical modesty, “This is nothing dramatic. It’s just a normal progression. I’ve been very fortunate.”

Left: Formal portrait of Air Force Maj. Robert H. Lawrence. Right: MOL Group 3 astronauts (from left) Lt. Col. Robert T. Herres, Maj. Robert H. Lawrence, Maj. Donald H. Peterson and Maj. James A. Abrahamson. Credits: U.S. Air Force

The MOL was a joint project of the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and the National Reconnaissance Office to obtain high-resolution photographic imagery of America’s Cold War adversaries. Authorized in August 1965, the MOL program envisioned a series of mini-space stations in low-polar Earth orbit, occupied by two-man crews for 30 days at a time, launching and returning to Earth aboard modified Gemini capsules. Due to schedule delays and cost overruns, the Nixon administration cancelled the MOL program in June 1969. NASA selected seven of the younger (under 35) MOL astronauts, and since Lawrence was in that age range, it is virtually certain that NASA would have selected him. All the astronauts in that group flew on the space shuttle in the 1980s, so it is easy to imagine that Lawrence would have piloted one of the early shuttle missions. It is also possible he would have become the first African American to fly in space.

Left: Lawrence at the press conference announcing the MOL Group 3 pilots. Right: Lawrence stands next to an F-104 Starfighter. Credits: U.S. Air Force

Born in Chicago on Oct. 2, 1935, Lawrence graduated from high school at 16, earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Bradley University at age 20 and became an Air Force officer and pilot. Lawrence, a highly accomplished pilot with 2,500 flying hours (2,000 in jets), earned a doctorate in physical chemistry from the Ohio State University in 1965 — the only selected MOL astronaut with a doctorate. He completed USAF Test Pilot School in June 1967 and was immediately assigned to the MOL program. 

During his brief career, Lawrence earned the Air Force Commendation Medal and the Outstanding Unit Citation. While serving as an instructor for another pilot practicing landing techniques later used in the shuttle program, Lawrence perished in a crash of an F-104 Starfighter supersonic jet on Dec. 8, 1967, at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Although both men ejected from the crash, Lawrence did not survive — the promising career of the pilot-scientist suddenly extinguished.

He was survived by his wife Barbara and 8-year-old son Tracey. And, despite the secrecy surrounding the MOL program, its director, Maj. Gen. Joseph S. Bleymaeir, and fellow classmates Donald H. Peterson and Robert T. Herres and other officials, attended Lawrence’s funeral in Chicago. Peterson, who later became a NASA astronaut, recalled in an oral history, “Bob was a super guy. His death was a terrible tragedy.”

Left: Patch of MOL program. Right: Lawrence’s name on the Space Mirror.

Because of his untimely death and the secrecy surrounding the MOL program, Lawrence's name remained largely unknown for many years. A concerted effort during the 1990s to overcome bureaucratic barriers over the definition of an astronaut resulted in Lawrence receiving proper, if belated, recognition. In September 1997, in tribute to his outstanding accomplishments as an American space pioneer, the crew of the Space Shuttle Atlantis carried his MOL mission patch into orbit during the STS-86 mission and presented it to his widow after the flight. On Dec. 8, 1997, the 30th anniversary of his death, Lawrence’s name was engraved on the Astronauts Memorial Foundation's Space Mirror at the NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, which honors astronauts who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their space programs.

Twenty years later, on the 50th anniversary of his death, NASA leaders honored Lawrence in a ceremony attended by hundreds. Former NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden recalled that Lawrence “was involved in the development of the maneuver that would become a critical part of space shuttle landing techniques, called ‘flare.’”

Kennedy Director Robert L. Cabana said, “Maj. Lawrence truly was a hero. He took that first step setting the stage for what was to come.” His groundbreaking accomplishments more than 50 years ago continue to be an inspiration, showing that excellence knows no color.

Left: Astronauts grapple the S.S. Robert Lawrence. Right: Sign inside the spacecraft welcomes the Expedition 62 crew. Image Credits: NASA

The S.S. Robert Lawrence is the second in the series of Cygnus cargo vehicles launched to resupply the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services-2 contract and the 13th overall in the program. Launch took place on Feb. 15, 2020, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Island Facility in Virginia on an Antares rocket.

Expedition 62 astronauts Andrew R. “Drew” Morgan and Jessica U. Meir captured the spacecraft on Feb. 18 with the station’s Canadian-built Canadarm2 robotic arm. Ground controllers then berthed it to the Unity module’s Earth-facing port. The astronauts shortly thereafter opened the hatch to begin unloading some of the more than 7,500 pounds of science and cargo delivered by the spacecraft.

Read Peterson’s recollections about Lawrence in his oral history interview with the Johnson Space Center History Office.