The first black astronaut was a spy!

Robert Lawrence was selected as a military astronaut.

Okay, so I’m being a little dramatic. But the story of the first black astronaut is fascinating and tragic.

I’m not talking about Guion Bluford, who was the first African-American to fly in space. (He first flew on the Shuttle in 1983.)

I’m talking about the lesser-known Robert Henry Lawrence, who was selected as an astronaut in June 1967. But even though America was then flying Gemini, and planning Apollo, Lawrence was slated to fly on neither of those.

Robert Lawrence was chosen to fly secret spy mission aboard the U.S. Air Force’s “Manned Orbiting Laboratory” (MOL)…which was to be our country’s first space station. The technology of MOL and the spacecraft to fly people to it (called Gemini B) was based on Gemini technology, but altered for its military mission.

But the MOL was never placed in orbit and nobody ever flew an MOL mission. The project was canceled due to cost overruns, and a feeling that the country’s much-improved unmanned spy satellites would make MOL obsolete.

MOL never flew a space mission...and neither did Robert Lawrence.

In any case, astronaut Lawrence was a capable and talented pilot and a very smart guy. He was a  test pilot and held a Ph.D. in chemistry. For the air force, he conducted test flights working on ways to glide an aircraft back to earth from orbit—unpowered. His work was ultimately used in the development of the space shuttle.

But Lawrence’s history as an astronaut was a short one. Just months after his selection, he died in the crash of an F104 during one of the test flights. He wasn’t at the control; he died as a passenger.

Lawrence’s name was added to the astronaut memorial at the Kennedy Space Center on December 8, 1997—exactly 30 years after the fatal crash.