The unsung astronaut

'Gifted in every area'
Lawrence was born and raised in Chicago, where he excelled in school. At Bradley University he obtained a degree in chemistry and signed up for ROTC, where he became the corps commander. He graduated in 1956 and received an Air Force lieutenant’s commission.

After completing flight training at Malden AFB, he was assigned as an instructor pilot for the German air force, flying T-33 trainers at Furstenfeldbruck AFB near Munich. He then was assigned to Ohio State University to earn a PhD in physical chemistry, completing his thesis in 1965.

Fred Abramson attended graduate school with Lawrence and remembered him as extraordinary. When Ohio State dedicated a lecture hall in 2000 to Lawrence, Abramson sent in this remembrance:

"I still have that Reader's Digest 'The Most Unforgettable Character I Ever Met' attitude toward Bob," Abramson wrote. “He was gifted in every area. He was smarter and more efficient than the rest of us. He could dust me off on the basketball court. ... And, oh yes, he could fly a jet fighter!”

Lawrence remained an active jet pilot while performing research at Kirtland AFB in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and eventually accumulated more than 2500 hours of flight time, 80 percent of that in jets. Much of that flying was done at Edwards AFB in California in early 1967, where he graduated from the Air Force Test Pilot Training School.

On June 10, Lawrence was officially designated a crewmember candidate for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory project, as part of the third selection of astronauts. He and his teammates remained at Edwards AFB performing various research and training tasks.

The fatal flight
Throughout the 1960s, both NASA and the Air Force were experimenting with small-winged (such as the X-15) and even no-winged flying craft (“lifting bodies”) that were seen as prototypes and test beds for future manned space vehicles. The key to making a successful runway landing was in performing a risky high speed maneuver just prior to touchdown.

Called a "flare," the maneuver involved pulling the craft’s nose up to generate a short burst of extra lift (slowing the descent) by sacrificing a lot of forward speed (reducing touchdown speed). Timing was critical, and the aerodynamics were still being mapped out. Too soon, and you began falling again, too fast; too late, and you never slowed enough to survive runway contact.

One operational vehicle that could be used inexpensively to "explore the envelope" of such approaches was the F-104 Starfighter, with its stubby wings. By reducing the jet's flyability through extra air drag, reducing its engine thrust and flying a hazardous nose-high approach, it could be made to fly almost as unstably as the experimental craft did.

Lawrence had mastered this piloting task and made a number of test flights in a special two-seat version of the jet. On Dec. 8, 1967, he was the instructor pilot for another officer, Maj. John Royer, who was learning how to perform such maneuvers himself.

During one approach, the jet, with Royer at the controls, hit the runway hard, collapsing its landing gear and setting the undercarriage on fire. As detailed in the official accident report, the aircraft briefly became airborne again, then came back down on the runway and began rolling.

Both pilots ejected as it rolled, with Royer sent slightly upward and Lawrence, whose ejection seat had a slight timing delay to avoid contact with the first seat, sent to the side. Royer was severely injured; Lawrence fatally so.

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