Your significant contributions to aerospace engineering, space exploration, and aviation are truly unique in our universe.

Today, Victor Glover (D.Sc. ’24) is on his way back to the Earth after literally becoming one of the four people to travel farthest from the planet in human history. Two years ago, he was preparing for a different kind of recognition — receiving an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Howard during its May 2024 Commencement. The citation describing the honor read, “your significant contributions to aerospace engineering, space exploration, and aviation are truly unique in our universe.” It was a prescient description. 

Glover has flown more than 3,500 hours in more than 40 aircraft. An officer in the U.S. Navy, he has flown 24 combat missions. He was selected for astronaut training by NASA in 2013, out of 6,000 applicants, and spent 168 days on the International Space Station from 2020 to 2021, where he performed scientific experiments and four space walk.

As the pilot of NASA’s Artemis II mission, Glover is now flying the Orion spacecraft on a journey of 230,000 miles into space, farther than any human has ever gone. Artemis’ four-person crew have flown around the moon, becoming the first people to personally see its “dark side,” and testing equipment that will ultimately be used to land on the moon and establish a permanent presence. 

Glover is a life member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., founded by Howard University students in 1914. He has earned three master’s degrees – in flight test engineering, systems engineering, and military science – along with certificates in space systems and legislative studies. He also served as a fellow in the office of the late U.S. senator and presidential nominee John McCain.

Even before he became the first Black person to orbit the moon, the Howard University Board of Trustees awarded him an honorary doctorate in recognition of a life and career that has exemplified “excellence, dedication, and innovation beyond our imagination. His citation noted that his work and achievements place him “in the annals of global history and serve as an inspiration to generation of skyward dreamers.” It further names Glover a “beloved son of The Mecca” with a light that “illumines our cherished core values — leadership, excellence, truth, and service.”

Members of the Howard family are sending their honorary alumnus best wishes for a safe journey through the stars and back home.