WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

At the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, NASA Deputy Administrator Frederick D. Gregory is inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. Gregory was the first African-American to command a space mission. Also chosen for this honor in 2004 are Kathryn D. Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space; Richard O. Covey, commander of the Hubble Space Telescope repair mission; Norman E. Thagard, the first American to occupy Russia's Mir space station; and the late Francis R. "Dick" Scobee, commander of the ill-fated 1986 Challenger mission. 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.