As the Space Shuttle Discovery makes its final descent from the International Space Station Wednesday morning and then heads to the Smithsonian Institute to be preserved for history, Benjamin Alvin "Al" Drew Jr. will be able to say that he was part of a historic moment.

The retired Air Force colonel is the only African American aboard what will be the final mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery. The crew delivered the first humanoid robot in to space. Drew, 48, also performed a pair of spacewalks during this final historic trip.

The two spacewalks helped to upgrade important parts of the international space station. During one of the spacewalks, Drew was tasked with removing toxic ammonia from a cooling unit. According to Space.com, Drew was also "removing thermal coverings, attaching camera lens covers and adjusting loose radiator grapple beams that had been improperly installed during a previous shuttle mission."

Discovery is NASA's oldest and most traveled shuttle. Only two more shuttle launches remain before the program is shuttered for good. The shuttle is expected to disconnect from the International Space Station this morning and spend another two days in orbit before returning to Earth on Wednesday.

"What a great program, and I got to be a part of it," Drew said in an interview before this trip.



Drew had a long journey to make it to the space station.

Drew, who grew up in Washington, D.C., remembers wanting to be a pilot as young as 4. By 5, he was asking his father whether it was better to be a pilot or an astronaut. Drew's father told him to pursue a path as a pilot since many astronauts back then were also pilots.

"I didn't want to give up either of them," he recalled.

And he didn't. As a pilot, Drew flew 60 combat missions over Panama, the Persian Gulf and Iraq in the early 1990s.


"I was smitten with that whole idea of just being at treetop level at night in a formation of helicopters with guns," Drew said. "That was clearly not the straight-line path to being an astronaut. But it seemed like a very cool idea at the time."

In 2000, Drew realized his other goal of becoming an astronaut.

And now he has earned his place on a historic flight: when he stepped in to space on his first space walk, he became the 200th person to do so.

Drew's story shows the importance of having big dreams and goals. Kids, especially African-American kids, need to know that they can set out a plan of success for their lives early on. But to reach their goals, they must have the support and encouragement to do so.

I've seen this firsthand in my own life with my sister. As young as 8 years old, she expressed an interest in being a doctor. She applied herself in school - always landing at the top of her class - and worked her way through various medical internships as a teen.

Even when some of her high school teachers laughed at her dream, she pushed on. Behind her was my family telling her she could do it every step of the way. Today, she is one of the highest-rated doctors in the part of the country where she practices, and she loves performing surgery.

Watching my big sis served as an inspiration for me as I hope hearing Drew's story will serve as an inspiration for others.