NASA’s Deputy Administrator Frederick D. Gregory is one of five
explorers being inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame. Gregory and
the other inductees will be honored Saturday during a public ceremony
at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, Fla.
As an astronaut, Gregory logged more than 455 hours in orbit on three
missions from 1985 to 1991 as a Space Shuttle pilot and, twice, as
Shuttle commander. He was the first African-American astronaut to
command a Space Shuttle mission. He has served in a number of key NASA
posts, including Associate Administrator for Safety and Mission
Assurance and Associate Administrator for Space Flight. He became
NASA’s Deputy Administrator in 2002.
He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he earned a
Bachelor of Science degree. He earned a master’s degree from George
Washington University, Washington. Gregory served 30 years in the U.S.
Air Force and retired as a Colonel in 1993.
“I am so proud of Fred and grateful for all the years of service he’s
given to this agency,” said NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe. “I
congratulate him and his wife Barbara on this tremendous honor.”
“The opportunity to serve this country as an astronaut has always been
honor enough for me,” Gregory said. “I appreciate the recognition from
the Astronaut Hall of Fame, and I feel proud to be in the company of
the other remarkable explorers being inducted this year.”
Other inductees at Saturday’s ceremony:
— Kathryn D. Sullivan, Ph.D., was NASA’s first female spacewalker in
1984. Sullivan also helped launch the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990.
— Richard O. Covey, Col., USAF (Ret.). He was pilot of the first Space
Shuttle return to flight mission in 1988 following the Challenger
accident. He commanded the 1993 Hubble Space Telescope repair mission.
He is leading the task group making an independent assessment of NASA’s
Return to Flight efforts.
— Norman E. Thagard, M.D., the first American to live on Russia’s Mir
space station. He spent 115 days working on Mir in 1995.
— Francis R. Scobee, commander of the 1986 Challenger mission that
ended in disaster 58 seconds after liftoff. Scobee will be represented
Saturday by his widow, June.
Gregory’s full biography is available on the Internet at:
http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/AN_Feature_Deputy.html
Biographical information on the Hall of Fame inductees is available on
the Internet at:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/astrobio_former.html
With this year’s inductees, the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame has honored
57 people. For information about the ceremony, contact Andrea Farmer
at: 321/449-4318. For information on the Internet, visit:
http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/visitKSC/attractions/fame.asp
The taped event will be broadcast on NASA TV at 1:30 p.m. EDT. NASA TV
is available on AMC-9, transponder 9C, C-Band, located at 85 degrees
west longitude. The frequency is 3880.0 MHz. Polarization is vertical,
and audio is monaural at 6.80 MHz. For information about NASA TV on the
Internet, visit:
