'The first, but not the last': Lawrence remembered as pioneering black astronaut

A career as a space shuttle astronaut and legacy as the first black American in space were all but assured for Air Force Maj. Robert Lawrence Jr.

But history took a different turn 50 years ago Friday when Lawrence, who had been selected just six months earlier as an Air Force astronaut, strapped into the back seat of an F-104 Starfighter for a training flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

In the front seat was a new flight instructor who had been struggling to learn a flair maneuver that pulled the jet out of a dive just before touchdown — a technique later essential to space shuttle landings.

The new instructor pulled the nose up too late that day, causing the jet to bounce and flip in flames on a dry lake bed. Lawrence, a 32-year-old married father of one son, was killed when his seat ejected.

“He would have been the first black person to fly in space, and he would have been famous,” said Bob Crippen, pilot of the first shuttle mission, at a memorial service Friday. “And he’s still famous with a lot of us, and he is still missed today.”

Cape Canaveral pad online as SpaceX test fires rocket; Zuma mission scheduled for 2018

Musk says Falcon Heavy rocket will launch Tesla car from KSC

At the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Friday, NASA and the Astronauts Memorial Foundation hosted a service honoring Lawrence, a two-hour tribute providing recognition some said was overdue.

Lawrence’s sister and sister-in-law joined Crippen and two other former Air Force astronauts laying a wreath at the Space Mirror Memorial, where Lawrence’s name was inscribed in granite alongside other fallen astronauts in 1997.

The Air Force’s classified Manned Orbiting Laboratory program, which intended to spy on Russia, was canceled two years after Lawrence’s selection to its third astronaut group.

NASA accepted seven MOL astronauts who were 35 or younger at that time, as Lawrence would have been.

Friday’s tribute celebrated Lawrence not for what fate prevented him from becoming, but for his trailblazing career and ongoing inspiration to younger generations.

“He is one of the giants on whose shoulders I stand,” said Charles Bolden, a four-time shuttle astronaut and former NASA administrator. “He was the first, but definitely not the last.”

Guion Bluford became NASA’s first black astronaut in space in 1983, and Mae Jemison the first black woman in 1992.

A Chicago native, Lawrence achieved his selection as an astronaut during a period of national turmoil, amid the civil rights movement and Vietnam War.

“He was undeterred by segregation and discrimination that he would find at every turn,” said Bolden.

Lawrence distinguished himself first academically and later as a pilot.

He grew up playing sports and piano, and games like chess and bridge. He earned a high school degree at 16 and a bachelor’s degree in chemistry at 20. He served in Germany with the Air Force and came home to earn a doctorate in chemistry before completing test pilot school at Edwards and being welcomed into the MOL program.

“He never was interested in being the first of anything,” said Barbara Lawrence, Robert’s older sister. “He was only interested in being given an opportunity to do what he could do, and the Air Force gave him that opportunity.”

At Edwards, he impressed fellow MOL astronaut James “Abe” Abrahamson with his smarts, flying ability and demeanor.

“One of his unique abilities was to be calm in every circumstance, even when his fellow pilot on the mission was going nuts,” recalled Abrahamson, a retired Air Force lieutenant general.

Leaders and members of Lawrence’s fraternity, Omega Psi Phi, attended the service and discussed his legacy of inspiration.

“Because of the fact that he was willing to risk his life to go out and make a difference for others, people are learning and having that opportunity today,” said Antonio Knox, the fraternity’s national president.

Barbara Lawrence said her brother embodied principles instilled in them as children to work with and get along with others.

“I’m only sorry that he didn’t get an opportunity to work a little bit longer, but I think his job was well done,” she said.

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com. And follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FlameTrench.