Gregory talked to the group of about 200 students, most of them from a freshman physics class, about his dangerous days as a research and test pilot flying his jet into the worst of storms. In fact, once he flew a Mach 1 just 50 feet above a large lake in the Midwest.
"I was young, so I was willing to take a lot of chances," he said.
He also talked about his days of Air Force training, practicing procedures during potential air raids from the Russians during the Cold War. "We would hide under the tables to practice protecting ourselves," Gregory said.
Later in his career when he had a chance to meet Russian cosmonauts, he found out that the Russians did similar air raid drills.
"Why would you practice that?" he asked the cosmonaut.
"Because you were going to bomb us," the cosmonaut said.
"Well, we thought you were going to bomb us!" Gregory replied.
"At that moment, I realized we were really just the same," Gregory said. "Solving today's problems takes an international, cooperative solution. There is no 'us' and 'them.' I hope that the young people of today can take that approach," he added.
Gregory also shared stories of his three times in space. When asked by a student whether he preferred being the pilot or the commander of the space shuttle, Gregory quickly answered that being the commander was better.
"When you are the commander, you can use your commander voice," he said with a laugh in a deep authoritative tone.
After his talk, Gregory presented scholarships to Cole Kazemba, an aerospace engineering and mechanics senior, and Rebecca Jo Szarkowski, a biomedical engineering senior, who are two of only 18 students nationwide to receive the scholarship. The University of Minnesota was the only university to have more than one recipient.
The U of M is one of only 19 partner schools in the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. U of M students have received more than $150,000 in scholarship since the program was established in 1984.
"I was young, so I was willing to take a lot of chances," he said.
He also talked about his days of Air Force training, practicing procedures during potential air raids from the Russians during the Cold War. "We would hide under the tables to practice protecting ourselves," Gregory said.
Later in his career when he had a chance to meet Russian cosmonauts, he found out that the Russians did similar air raid drills.
"Why would you practice that?" he asked the cosmonaut.
"Because you were going to bomb us," the cosmonaut said.
"Well, we thought you were going to bomb us!" Gregory replied.
"At that moment, I realized we were really just the same," Gregory said. "Solving today's problems takes an international, cooperative solution. There is no 'us' and 'them.' I hope that the young people of today can take that approach," he added.
Gregory also shared stories of his three times in space. When asked by a student whether he preferred being the pilot or the commander of the space shuttle, Gregory quickly answered that being the commander was better.
"When you are the commander, you can use your commander voice," he said with a laugh in a deep authoritative tone.
After his talk, Gregory presented scholarships to Cole Kazemba, an aerospace engineering and mechanics senior, and Rebecca Jo Szarkowski, a biomedical engineering senior, who are two of only 18 students nationwide to receive the scholarship. The University of Minnesota was the only university to have more than one recipient.
The U of M is one of only 19 partner schools in the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. U of M students have received more than $150,000 in scholarship since the program was established in 1984.
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