posted 06-07-2020 06:57 AM               

Space Cover #565: Robert Lawrence

Robert Lawrence was a United States Air Force officer and the first African American astronaut.

Perhaps there are others but the only two covers I have ever seen honoring Lawrence are these two designed by Robert Rank.

The first cover is dated on the date of his passing, December 8, 1967. The second cover is dual canceled December 8, 1967 and Washington DC September 18, 1997, the First Day of Issue of the U.S. postage stamp commemorating the 50th anniversary of the US Department of the Air Force.

From a NASA feature article:

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 Maj. 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."

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 2-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 Space Shuttle missions. It is also possible he would have become the first African-American to fly in space.

Born and raised in Chicago on October 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 was a highly accomplished pilot with 2,500 flying hours, 2,000 in jets, and earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from The Ohio State University in 1965, the only selected MOL astronaut with a doctorate. He completed U.S. Air Force 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 Space Shuttle program, Lawrence perished in a crash of an F-104 Starfighter supersonic jet on December 8, 1967, at Edwards Air Force Base, 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 eight-year-old son Tracey. Despite the secrecy surrounding the MOL Program, its director Maj. Gen. Joseph S. Bleymaeir, 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."

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 December 8, 1997, the 30th anniversary of his death, Lawrence's name was engraved on the Astronauts Memorial Foundation's Space Mirror at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Visitor Complex, which honors astronauts who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their space pograms. 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.'" KSC 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 ground-breaking accomplishments more than 50 years ago continue to be an inspiration, showing that excellence knows no color.

It would be interesting to see other covers honoring Lawrence and also covers canceled for the Cygnus cargo ship.

posted 06-08-2020 05:06 PM               

As once part of my aerospace test pilot collection for many decades, I did have possession of a single "Bob Lawrence" autograph. It was on a Swanson SCC of the only MOL program related Titan launch in Nov. 1966. The majority of that collection went to the home of collector-friend Leon Ford and I would love to see the signed Lawrence cover again. As Leon is no longer with us, perhaps its new owner would be willing to share the signed cover with us here if possible.

It may also be appropriate, as a memorabilia-type recognition of Maj. Lawrence here on cS, to depict the large cloth embroidery patch in which Lawrence's name was added with 16 other fallen astronauts at the time in Dec. 1997 by The Astronauts Memorial Foundation here at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex.

His name on the 5.5" diameter patch, originally designed by famed space artist Robert McCall in 1990, was placed between fellow MOL pilot- astronaut Michael Adams and NASA astronaut Clifton Williams. Since then, eight more fallen astronauts have been added to the special memorial patch along with their inclusion on the AMF's "Space Mirror," a KSC-located national tribute to all American astronauts who made the ultimate sacrifice believing the conquest of space is worth the risk of life.