Robert Asa Gordon is an American civil rights activist and retired NASA astrodynamicist who has dedicated his life to both scientific advancement and social justice.
Scientific Career
Gordon worked as an astrodynamicist at NASA, where he was published in international scientific journals and is referenced in Ivan Van Sertima’s “Blacks in Science: Ancient and Modern.” His research has been employed by private industry, both domestic and abroad, for tracking satellites in space, and he served two terms as president of the Goddard Engineers, Scientists and Technicians Association.
Civil Rights Activism
After retiring from NASA, Gordon became a prominent civil rights activist focusing particularly on voting rights and electoral reform. He is the founder and executive director of the Douglass Institute of Government, a Washington, D.C.-based educational think tank.
Gordon serves as secretary-general of the Sons & Daughters of the United States Colored Troops (S&DUSCT), an organization chartered by the African American Civil War Memorial Freedom Foundation to honor the historical legacy of those who served in the USCT during the American Civil War.He is also a research historian and consulting curator of the African American Civil War Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
