Alvin Drew

Early life and education

Drew was born in 1962 in Washington, D.C., and spent his early years in Lanham, Maryland, moving to Brookland, Washington, D.C., at age four. He desired to be a pilot from as early as four years old, and after seeing the Apollo 7 launch on television in October 1968 at age five, he wished to become an astronaut.

He graduated from St. Anthony Catholic School in 1977 and Gonzaga College High School in 1980. A National Merit Scholar, he earned a dual B.S. in physics and astronautical engineering from the United States Air Force Academy in 1984, an M.S. in aerospace science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and a Master's in political science from the Air War College of Air University. He is a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and the American Helicopter Society, and received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Abertay University in 2011.

Military career

Drew began his Air Force career as a second lieutenant after graduating from the Air Force Academy in May 1984. He trained on helicopters at Fort Rucker, Alabama, in 1985, then flew combat rescue missions in the HH-3E. Moving to the MH-60G with Air Force Special Operations Command, he participated in operations Just Cause, Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and Provide Comfort.

He earned his fixed-wing qualification in 1993 and graduated from the United States Naval Test Pilot School in June 1994. Over his career, he commanded two flight test units and served on Air Combat Command staff. A command pilot with more than 4,000 flight hours across 30 aircraft types, he retired from the Air Force in September 2010 after over 25 years of service.

NASA career

Alvin Drew became a NASA mission specialist in July 2000 and started training in August 2000. After two years of training and evaluation, he joined the Astronaut Office Station Operations Branch. He later took a sabbatical to the U.S. Air Force's Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, attending a master's degree program at their Air War College. His first spaceflight was STS-118, after which he served as a CAPCOM officer for the mission of STS-123 and then spent almost a year in Russia as director of operations overseeing U.S. operations at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center in Star City.

Between his two missions, he logged more than 612 hours in space. On April 21, 2009, he delivered a lecture "Space Shuttle Flight-118: A Mission to Build the International Space Station" at the ELE public forum in Moscow. When Clayton Anderson was moved to STS-117, Drew was selected for the available position on STS-118, becoming the first astronaut from the class of 2000 to go into space. He flew again on STS-133, the final flight of Space Shuttle Discovery, serving as a mission specialist and performing two spacewalks.

White House career

On February 28, 2011, he became the 200th person to walk in space. From 2015 to 2016, Drew worked in the Obama Administration's Office of Science and Technology Policy as the assistant director for Aviation and Space Security. In 2016, he was appointed to the U.S. Air Force Academy Board of Visitors by President Barack Obama, a post he held until 2020. Between 2016 and 2024, he worked as a liaison between NASA and the United States Department of Defense.

In late 2024, upon the establishment of the division of space sustainability, he became NASA's first ever director for space sustainability, and is also the acting director of Cross-Directorate Technical Integration for NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate.

Did You Know?

• Drew was the final African-American to fly on board a Space Shuttle, as the final two missions, STS-134 and STS-135, had no African-American crew members.
• He co-founded the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship in October 2020, an official spin-off of the Brooke Owens Fellowship providing resources for Black undergraduate students pursuing careers in aerospace.