Born in New York City, Frosch was educated in the public school system in The Bronx.

During this period he was also technical director of Project Artemis, a very large experimental active sonar system development.

From January 1973 to July 1975, Frosch served as assistant executive director of the United Nations Environmental Program.

While at NASA, Frosch was responsible for overseeing the continuation of the development effort on the Space Shuttle program.

During his tenure, the project underwent testing of the first orbiter, Enterprise, at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in southern California.