Astronaut Roger Crouch was born in 1940 in Jamestown, Tennessee, an hour’s drive from Cookeville and thirty minutes from Byrdstown, my childhood hometown. While an elementary student, Crouch saw the movie “Destination Moon” and dreamed of flying in space.
To work toward that dream, Crouch applied to the Navy and Air Force, but was rejected because of his color blindness. He earned a B. S. in physics at Tennessee Tech, and a master’s and Ph. D. in physics from Virginia Tech. While Crouch was a college student, a new organization NASA, the National Air and Space Administration, put out a call for its first astronauts. But again, his color blindness ruled Crouch out.
After completing college, Crouch worked as a NASA program scientist on five spacelab flights for the space shuttle. He was a group leader and researcher at the NASA Langley Research Center. Although his experiments were flying in space, he was still on the ground.
Then NASA created a new class of astronauts: payload specialists, who would work with onboard experiments. The physical requirements were different. Colorblindness couldn’t hold Crouch back. He was accepted and trained as the back-up payload specialist for a 1992 mission.
April 1997, Crouch, at age 56, finally realized his dream. He flew aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia on a planned fifteen-day mission to complete microgravity experiments, but the mission was aborted due to a fuel problem. Columbia was repaired. Three months later, Crouch returned to space where he flew a complete mission. He logged nineteen days in space.
Last Wednesday, Husband and I and our 16-year-old Grand, Elsie, toured the Kennedy Space Center. Looking over the day’s activities, we saw that Astronaut Roger Crouch would be signing autographs. Husband and I stood in line, but we had nothing to autograph.
“I just want us to meet him, say we know where he grew up, and maybe get a picture,” I said. Others had stood behind Crouch, seated at a table, while a NASA employee snapped a picture. We looked for Elsie who was studying Atlantis Shuttle displays while we waited.
“Maybe Elsie has something to autograph,” Husband said. She did. Her brand-new gray cap with the meatball NASA logo.
Roger Crouch, age 83, nodded a greeting. Elsie laid her cap on the table. “Will you sign this, please?” With a shaky hand, Crouch wrote his name.
“You’re from Jamestown,” I said. “Not far from where I grew up in Byrdstown.”
“Byrdstown!” Crouch looked surprised.
“We live in Cookeville now.”
“I went to Tennessee Tech!” Crouch shook his head and grinned.
“We’d like a picture.”
“Come around here.” Astronaut Crouch stood quickly, gestured to all three of us, put an arm around Elsie’s shoulders, and grabbed my hand. “Byrdstown. Cookeville. Oh, my.”
We talked briefly (he hasn’t been to Jamestown since his mom died in 2021), and we could’ve talked a while, but others waited. “You folks have a good day,” Crouch said.
When you meet an astronaut, who through determination, hard work and perseverance fulfilled his childhood dream, it’s a good day.
Filed under: Fun and adventure, Grandchildren, Inspirational, Tennessee Tech University | Tagged: astronaut, Kennedy Space Center, Roger Crouch | Leave a comment »
Susan Writes 