KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Frederick D. Gregory (second from left), the first African-American to command a space mission and the current NASA deputy administrator, responds to a reporter’s question at a press conference in the Apollo/Saturn V Center following the induction ceremony of five space program heroes into the Astronaut Hall of Fame. Seated (left to right) with him on the platform are Richard O. Covey, commander of the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission; Gregory; Kathryn D. Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space; June Scobee, representing her late husband Francis R. "Dick" Scobee, commander of the ill-fated 1986 Challenger mission; and Norman E. Thagard, the first American to occupy Russia’s Mir space station. The U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame opened in 1990 to provide a place where space travelers could be remembered for their participation and accomplishments in the U.S. space program. To be eligible for induction, an individual must have been a U.S. citizen, a NASA astronaut, and out of the active astronaut corps at least five years. The five inductees join 52 previously honored astronauts from the ranks of the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz, and Space Shuttle programs. KSC-04pd0999
Summary
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Frederick D. Gregory (second from left), the first African-American to command a space mission and the current NASA deputy administrator, responds to a reporter’s question at a press conference in the Apollo/Saturn V Center following the induction ceremony of five space program heroes into the Astronaut Hall of Fame. Seated (left to right) with him on the platform are Richard O. Covey, commander of the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission; Gregory; Kathryn D. Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space; June Scobee, representing her late husband Francis R. "Dick" Scobee, commander of the ill-fated 1986 Challenger mission; and Norman E. Thagard, the first American to occupy Russia’s Mir space station. The U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame opened in 1990 to provide a place where space travelers could be remembered for their participation and accomplishments in the U.S. space program. To be eligible for induction, an individual must have been a U.S. citizen, a NASA astronaut, and out of the active astronaut corps at least five years. The five inductees join 52 previously honored astronauts from the ranks of the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz, and Space Shuttle programs.
The Space Shuttle program was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011, administered by NASA and officially beginning in 1972. The Space Shuttle system—composed of an orbiter launched with two reusable solid rocket boosters and a disposable external fuel tank— carried up to eight astronauts and up to 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). When its mission was complete, the orbiter would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere and lands as a glider. Although the concept had been explored since the late 1960s, the program formally commenced in 1972 and was the focus of NASA's manned operations after the final Apollo and Skylab flights in the mid-1970s. It started with the launch of the first shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981, on STS-1. and finished with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis, in July 2011.
- KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. -- Frederick D. Gregory (second ...
- Scobee Collection of Photo Prints and Gifts - Media Storehouse
- Thagard Collection of Photo Prints and Gifts - Media Storehouse
- Covey Collection - License Storehouse Photo Images
- Thagard Collection - License Storehouse Photo Images
- Induction Collection (page 2) - License Storehouse Photo Images
- Gregory Collection (page 5) - License Storehouse Photo Images