Kennedy Space Center gets a new, astronaut director

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NASA today announced that astronaut Robert Cabana has been appointed as the 10th director of Kennedy Space Center. Cabana, who replaces Bill Parsons, is the second astronaut to head the Florida launch facility.

Parsons is going into private industry, according to a NASA release.

 

Cabana is a native of Minnesota. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1971 with a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. Cabana is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School and has logged over 7,000 hours in 36 different aircraft.

After his selection as an astronaut candidate in June of 1985, Cabana completed his training in 1986. He has flown four space shuttle missions, serving as the pilot of Discovery missions STS-41 in October 1990 and STS-53 in December 1992, commander of Columbia on STS-65 in July 1994, and commander of Endeavour on STS-88 - the first International Space Station assembly mission - in December 1998.

Before being named the director at Stennis in October 2007, Cabana served as deputy director of Johnson. In addition, Cabana has worked as chief of NASA's Astronaut Office; manager of international operations of the International Space Station Program; director of NASA's Human Space Flight Program in Russia; deputy director of the International Space Station Program; and director of Flight Crew Operations.

"Bob Cabana is long-time colleague, and another whose marine training has redounded to NASA's benefit," Griffin said. "Bob has seen it all and done it all in human spaceflight, and done it with an open, collaborative style. There is just no better teammate. He will be a terrific successor to Bill Parsons as Director of KSC."

The first astronaut to lead KSC: Bob Crippen, who, with John Young, flew Columbia on the STS-1 proving mission.