Sitting across from Mr. Gregory was a surreal experience for me. In addition to the fact that I had just finished reading The New Guys, a book detailing the experiences of NASA’s historic Astronaut Group 8—which Mr. Gregory was a part of—I had literally gone to class a couple days prior in Gregory Hall, a building named after him. In the air and space community, Mr. Gregory is somewhat of a legend. In addition to his accomplishments as a Vietnam helicopter pilot, and test pilot for the Air Force and NASA respectively, he’d been a member of one of the most influential astronaut classes in history. For most people, achievements of that caliber might have been more than enough to rest on one’s laurels for the rest of their lives. But even as he sat across from me at the seasoned age of 83, he told me that he was looking to help get people on Mars. 

What I enjoyed most about my conversation with Mr. Gregory was not necessarily the stories he told me of going to space or his rare feat of completing test pilot school for both fixed wing and rotary aircraft—as cool as they were. Instead, it was his unshakeable sense of optimism that touched me the most. In speaking with him, it was poignantly clear to me that the half century’s worth of Mr. Gregory’s public service had been fueled by a curiosity in the purest sense. He told me that he lived his life based on a philosophy in which he would have fun while making a contribution. “If either one of them waned,” he said referring to his self-promise of contributive fun, “I would look for the next thing to do.”

In tandem with the innate sense of optimism that Mr. Gregory carried with him, I was fascinated with the attitude with which he approached a new problem. Encouraging me to look beyond the scope of a linear path from problem to solution, he suggested that I embrace the fact that there are always a multitude of ways to achieve a desired goal and thus avoid getting hung up on any particular means of getting there.  

“It’s like Lewis and Clark,” he said. “See, Lewis and Clark thought there was one river that ran from the mountains to the ocean. So that’s what they looked for: that one river. But if you start at the west coast, you’re gonna find that there are many, many rivers that lead [back].”

Frederick Gregory is the kind of person that makes you want to get up and do something after talking to him. I hope that you’ll listen to the highlights from my conversation with Mr. Gregory, and that you too, will be inspired to have fun while making a contribution. Listen to the podcast on the Podbean app or Apple Podcasts.