First black astronaut Robert Lawrence broke barriers but died before spaceflight
But his story became a beacon for ambition, breaking both racial and professional barriers aloft.ROOTS IN CHICAGO AND THE MAKING OF A PILOTSCHOLARGrowing up in Chicago, Lawrence showed early promise. Born on 2 October 1935, he graduated high school at just sixteen, finishing among the top of his class. His spare hours saw him building model planes and mastering chess.When he entered Bradley University, he carried that spark into Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC), a programme designed to train college students to become commissioned officers in the US Armed Forces.
(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
advertisementBy twenty, he held a degree in chemistry, had earned a commission as an Air Force officer, and became a pilot-instructor flying T33 jets in Germany.But his curiosity did not stop; it demanded more. So he returned to school -- this time at Ohio State University, where in 1965 he earned a PhD in physical chemistry.BREAKING COLOUR BARRIERS IN THE SPACE PROGRAMMEBy 1967, he had racked up over 2,500 flight hours, mostly in jets, and flew Lockheed F104 Starfighters to test maneuvers like the 'flare' -- essential for spacecraft landings. It wasn't long before NASA took notice.His achievements earned him selection for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) programme on June 30, 1967 -- the first African American in any US astronaut corps.In an era when race walls still loomed, he answered with quiet resolve: 'just another step in civil rights normal progression,' he'd said.His selection included astronaut training, but sadly, no mission would ever take him to space.
Manned Orbit Laboratory (MOL) astronauts (Left to Right: Robert T. Herres, USAF; Robert H. Lawrence, Jr., USAF; Dr. Donald H. Peterson, USAF; and James A. Abrahamson, USAF) (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
THE FATAL TRAINING FLIGHTOn December 8, 1967, he was back at Edwards Air Force Base, teaching a trainee how to perform the steepdescent 'flare': a crucial glide manoeuvre for returning spacecraft.They flew in an F104 Starfighter. During a steep-descent drill with a trainee, the jet flared too late.The plane struck the runway hard, caught fire, and rolled. The pilot escaped. Lawrence did not.He became the only MOL astronaut to die in training. He left behind a wife, Barbara, and their young son, Tracey.A LEGACY THAT FOUND LIGHT AFTER DARKThe Air Force quietly omitted his name from the original Astronaut Space Mirror Memorial, citing programme definitions. But advocates -- his wife Barbara, son Tracey, and historians -- persisted. In 1997, his name was finally included.His mission patch flew aboard STS-86, and today the Cygnus spacecraft SS Robert H Lawrence honours him.
At the Kennedy Space Center's Visitor Complex, the name of U.S. Air Foce Maj. Robert Lawrence is one of those included on the Space Mirror Memorial which honors those lost in efforts to explore space. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
advertisementAFTERMATH AND RECOGNITIONFor years, his story lay hidden -- NASA did not immediately honour his name on the official Astronaut Space Mirror Memorial, citing Air Force definitions.Campaigns from his loved ones and space historians changed that. In 1997, his name was finally etched in stone.Later honors included having his mission patch flown aboard STS86 in 1997 and inspiring the naming of SS Robert H Lawrence, a 2020 Cygnus spacecraft.WHY HIS STORY STILL MATTERS TODAYRobert Henry Lawrence Jr. never reached orbit, but he broke the most rigid barrier -- race in the astronaut corps. He showed the world that being black and brilliant were not contradictions. He combined science, skill, and steadfast courage.And though his life ended before lift-off, his legacy helped launch a more inclusive journey beyond Earth. It inspired a pathway for generations of astronauts -- reminding us that breakthroughs can begin in classrooms, laboratories, and sometimes in tragic accidents on runways.- Ends
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Fly feeds on live flesh Most fly larvae feed on dead flesh, making the New World screwworm fly and its Old World counterparts in Asia and Africa outliers — and for the American beef industry, a serious threat. Females lay their eggs in wounds and, sometimes, exposed mucus. 'A thousand-pound bovine can be dead from this in two weeks,' said Michael Bailey, president-elect of the American Veterinary Medicine Association. Veterinarians have effective treatments for infested animals, but an infestation can still be unpleasant — and cripple an animal with pain. Don Hineman, a retired western Kansas rancher, recalled infected cattle as a youngster on his family's farm. 'It smelled nasty,' he said. 'Like rotting meat.' How scientists will use the fly's biology against it The New World screwworm fly is a tropical species, unable to survive Midwestern or Great Plains winters, so it was a seasonal scourge. 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It plans to spend $8.5 million on the Texas site and $21 million to convert a facility in southern Mexico for breeding sterile fruit flies into one for screwworm flies. How to raise hundreds of millions of flies In one sense, raising a large colony of flies is relatively easy, said Cassandra Olds, an assistant professor of entomology at Kansas State University. But, she added, 'You've got to give the female the cues that she needs to lay her eggs, and then the larvae have to have enough nutrients." Fly factories once fed larvae horse meat and honey and then moved to a mix of dried eggs and either honey or molasses, according to past USDA research. Later, the Panama factory used a mix that included egg powder and red blood cells and plasma from cattle. In the wild, larvae ready for the equivalent of a butterfly's cocoon stage drop off their hosts and onto the ground, burrow just below the surface and grow to adulthood inside a protective casing, making them resemble a dark brown Tic Tac mint. In the Panama factory, workers drop them into trays of sawdust. Security is an issue. Sonja Swiger, an entomologist with Texas A&M University's Extension Service, said a breeding facility must prevent any fertile adults kept for breeding stock from escaping. How to drop flies from an aeroplane Dropping flies from the air can be dangerous. Last month, a plane freeing sterile flies crashed near Mexico's border with Guatemala, killing three people. In test runs in the 1950s, according to the USDA, scientists put the flies in paper cups and then dropped the cups out of planes using special chutes. Later, they loaded them into boxes with a machine known as a 'Whiz Packer.' The method is still much the same: Light planes with crates of flies drop those crates. Burgess called the development of sterile fly breeding and distribution in the 1950s and 1960s one of the USDA's 'crowning achievements.' Some agriculture officials argue now that new factories shouldn't be shuttered after another successful fight. 'Something we think we have complete control over — and we have declared a triumph and victory over, can always rear its ugly head again,' Burgess said.
