Robert Curbeam, Senior Vice President of Space Capture at Maxar Technologies

Robert Curbeam, a member of the Potomac Officers Club, serves as senior vice president of space capture at Maxar Technologies, a space systems maker headquartered in Westminster, Colorado.

Maxar offers products and services related to robotics, satellite access, precision mapping, geospatial intelligence and others, according to its website.

Prior to joining the company in 2021, Curbeam served as VP of strategy and business development at Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems’ space systems group, his LinkedIn profile says.

He was previously mission area director for civil space and international business at Raytheon Technologies. Before he joined Raytheon, he was president of ARES’ aerospace and defense division, according to his Challenger Center biography.

A former NASA astronaut, Curbeam is a veteran of three space flights and has logged over 901 hours in space. NASA said he retired from the public sector in November 2007.

He held a variety of leadership positions while at NASA, including director of safety, reliability and quality assurance for the Constellation program.

Curbeam served for 23 years in the U.S. Navy, where was lead project officer for the F-14 Air-to-Ground Weapons Separation Flight Test Program.

He earned an advanced degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering and a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Post Graduate School.