(1935–67), U.S. astronaut. A long and difficult campaign waged by family, friends, and historians drew to an emotional close on Dec. 8, 1997, when the name of United States Air Force Major Robert Lawrence, Jr., was added to the Astronauts Memorial Foundation's Space Mirror at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. His supporters, who fought for six years to have his name placed on the mirror, watched as the panel was placed alongside the names of 16 other men who, like Lawrence, had lost their lives while serving as astronauts. The opposition to the campaign was widely considered to be entrenched in racism and a tangled in a web of bureaucracy. Robert Henry Lawrence, Jr., was born in Chicago on Oct. 2, 1935. He was a chess enthusiast and model airplane–builder as a child. After graduating with honors at age 16 from Chicago's Englewood High School, he enrolled in the Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) while a student at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill. Upon receiving a bachelor's degree in chemistry at age 20, Lawrence received a commission in the United States Air Force as a second lieutenant. He served as a fighter pilot and flight instructor in West Germany before returning to the United States for further training. While working on his doctorate in chemistry at Ohio State University, which he earned at the age of 25, he also studied at the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Lawrence became the first African American selected for a manned space program on June 30, 1967, when the Air Force announced his inclusion in the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program. The 6-month astronaut-training program was a precursor to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Space Shuttle Program. Considered a brilliant man with a promising career, Lawrence's life was cut tragically short when on Dec. 8, 1967, his F-104 Starfighter jet crashed on a California desert runway during a routine proficiency flight. Leaving behind a wife and young son, he never made it into space. Because the Air Force did not officially recognize Lawrence as an astronaut at the time of his death, NASA did not place his name on the four-story granite Space Mirror Memorial when the memorial was officially dedicated in 1991. The memorial is dedicated to American astronauts who lost their lives in training or on a space mission. The Air Force defined an astronaut as one who had flown in space (at least 50 miles [80 kilometers] above the Earth) and completed astronaut training. Although under the current NASA program, Lawrence would have been considered an astronaut the moment NASA designated him part of the program, NASA based their decision on the official Air Force definition of an astronaut. Many people, including Lawrence's family, community members, and historians, felt the decision was based on racism. In 1994, as the debate over his astronaut status continued, Lawrence was honored in Chicago, his hometown, when the Luella School was renamed the Robert H. Lawrence Elementary School for Mathematics and Science. Lawrence, who broke racial barriers during a difficult period in American history, was considered an excellent role model for African American children. When NASA finally announced the addition of Lawrence's name to the memorial, the press conference was held at Chicago's Adler Planetarium. |