The HistoryMakers

The first African American NASA Space Commander, Colonel Frederick Drew Gregory, Sr. was born on January 7, 1941 in Washington, D.C. An only child of two teachers, Gregory grew up in Washington, D.C. in an integrated neighborhood where his parents taught him the values of education and hard work. In 1958, Gregory graduated from Anacostia High School in the historically rich southeast portion of Washington, D.C. After graduating from high school, Gregory attended Amherst College, but dropped out after a year so he could attend the U.S. Air Force Academy. He received his B.S. degree in 1964 and obtained his M.S. degree in information systems from George Washington University in 1977.

Upon graduation from the U.S. Air Force Academy, Gregory began active duty in the United States Air Force as an H-43 helicopter pilot stationed in Oklahoma until 1966. After training in Oklahoma, Gregory became a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, where he won numerous military decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1967 for rescuing four marines from a downed chopper in Vietnam. In 1967, at the age of twenty-six, Gregory returned to the United States, where he was assigned as a missile support helicopter pilot flying the UH-1F at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri. In 1993, Gregory retired as a colonel after logging more than 6,976 hours of flying time in over fifty types of aircraft -- including 550 combat missions in Vietnam.

Gregory was sent to the NASA Langley Research Center, in Hampton, Virginia and served as a test-pilot for NASA. In 1978, at the age of thirty-seven, Gregory was selected as one of thirty-five astronauts by NASA. Of the thirty-five, three were African American. His first mission to space on the orbiter Challenger launched from Kennedy Space Center in April 1985. In 1989, Gregory became the first African American space commander when he commanded the mission STS-33 on board the Orbiter Challenger. He commanded a crew of six on his last space mission in 1991.

With the completion of his third mission, Gregory was appointed Associate Administrator, Office of Safety and Mission Quality at the NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Gregory continued to work with NASA and in 2001 was promoted to NASA Deputy Administrator. After head Administrator Sean O'Keefe left NASA, Gregory was promoted to Acting Administrator of NASA, the first African American to hold this position. Gregory is married to the former Barbara Archer of Washington, D.C. They have two grown children. Frederick D. Gregory, Jr., is a captain in the Air Force, and a graduate of Stanford University. Heather Lynn is a social worker and graduate of Sweet Briar College.

Gregory was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on July 27, 2007.