NASA Names Robert Cabana as Associate Administrator

NASA has announced that Robert Cabana, the director of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and a former astronaut, will begin serving as associate administrator on May 17. He will succeed Steve Jurczyk, who has announced his retirement. 

Cabana is currently responsible for managing all of the spaceport’s programs, including the Commercial Crew Program and other critical programs, NASA said Tuesday.

According to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Cabana led KSC’s modernization into a multi-user spaceport that partners with commercial customers and supports the government’s science and human exploration missions.

Cabana will be part of a senior NASA headquarters team that includes the deputy administrator, chief financial officer, chief of staff, senior adviser for budget and finance, associate administrator for communications and associate administrator for legislative and intergovernmental affairs. 

Cabana completed his initial astronaut training in July 1986 and was assigned to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Astronaut Office. He has logged 38 days in space as part of four spaceflights: the STS-41, STS-53, STS-65 and STS-88 missions. 

During his tenure, he served as lead astronaut in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory, as mission control spacecraft communicator and as chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office. 

A former Marine Corps serviceman, Cabana was designated a naval aviator in 1976 and has logged more than 7,000 hours of flight time in more than 50 types of aircraft. 

He graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1981 and served in the Flight Systems Branch at the Naval Air Test Center in 1984, according to NASA’s biography.