WILLIAM G. GREGORY (LIEUTENANT COLONEL, U.S. AIR FORCE, RET.)

NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER)

PERSONAL DATA: Born May 14, 1957, in Lockport, New York. Married. He enjoys 

distance running, biking, triathlon, wakeboarding, water and snow skiing. He has 

competed in the World Championships for Duathlon and the IRONMAN Triathlon.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Lockport Senior High School, Lockport, New York,

1975; Bachelor of Science in Engineering Sciences from the United States Air Force 

Academy, 1979; Master of Science in Engineering from Columbia University, 1980 via 

Guggenheim Fellowship; Master of Science in Management from Troy State, 1984.

ORGANIZATIONS: Member of the U.S. Air Force Academy Association of 

Graduates, the Order of Daedalians, and several boards of professional organizations.

SPECIAL HONORS: Awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal, Meritorious 

Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the NASA 

Space Flight Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal. Lt. Col. Gregory is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States 

Air Force Academy, a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient, and is a Professional Engineer registered in the State of Colorado. 

Awarded the 1996 Ellis Island Medal of Honor. Member of the Arizona Governor’s Commission on Aerospace & Defense. 

EXPERIENCE: Between 1981 and 1986, Lt. Col. Gregory served as an operational fighter pilot flying the D and F models of 

the F-111. He attended the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School in 1987, and between 1988 and 1990, he served as a test pilot at 

Edwards Air Force Base flying the F-4, A-7D, and all five models of the F-15. Having flown 40+ types of aircraft, Gregory has 

accumulated more than 9,000 hours of flight time.

Selected by NASA in January 1990, Lt. Col. Gregory became an astronaut in July 1991. His technical assignments included 

Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL); Astronaut Office Representative for Landing/Rollout, T-38 Flying Safety; 

Kennedy Space Center Astronaut Support Personnel (ASP); Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) in mission control; Astronaut 

Office Representative for Rendezvous and Proximity Operations; and Spacecraft Operations Branch Chief. He flew on STS-67 

(1995) and has logged 400 hours in space. Lt. Col. Gregory retired from the Air Force and left NASA in the summer of 1999. 

Lt. Col. Gregory spent nine years in Phoenix, Arizona, with Honeywell Defense & Space as the Senior Sales Manager for 

Human Spaceflight, landing the avionics role on the ORION Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). Beginning August 2008, he 

spent two years as Vice President of Business Development for Micro-Tronics, Inc., and then the same role for Qwaltec, Inc., for 

two and a half years. Gregory spent four years as an Advanced Instructor Pilot/Master CFI-Aerobatic for APS, a Medevac G100 pilot for SWIFT Transportation for two years, a B-757/767 Captain for Air Transport International, and currently serves as 

G-100 corporate pilot for Merchants Benefit Administration in Scottsdale, Arizona.

SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: Lt. Col. Gregory served as the STS-67 pilot on the seven-person astronomical research 

mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Launching from the Kennedy Space Center on March 2, 1995, and landing at 

Edwards Air Force Base on March 18, 1995, the crew established a new mission duration record of 16 days, 15 hours, 8 minutes

and 46 seconds, while completing 262 orbits and traveling nearly seven million miles. This second flight of the ASTRO 

telescope primary payload also included numerous secondary payloads. 

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

June 2022

Biographical Data

 Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

 Houston, Texas 77058