Discovery (STS-53) launched 1992

STS-53 crew

Back row (L-R): David Walker, Robert Cabana, Michael Clifford

Front row (L-R): Guion Bluford, James Voss

STS-53 mission patch

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-53) launched December 2, 1992, carrying a classified payload for the Department of Defense. Its crew consisted of Commander David Walker, Robert Cabana, Guion Bluford (final flight), Michael Clifford (first flight), and James Voss.

One of the unclassified payload was the Orbital Debris Radar Calibration Spheres (ODERACS), which put objects of known size and shape into orbit.  The experiment was used to calibrate radars and telescopes for measuring orbital debris.

The crew returned to Earth December 9.

Endeavour (STS-88) launched 1998

STS-88 crew

Front row (L-R): Sergei Krikalev, Nancy Currie-Gregg

Back row (L-R): Jerry Ross, Robert Cabana, Frederick Sturckow, James Newman

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-88), launched December 4, 1998, carried the first American module, Unity node, to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Robert Cabana, Pilot Frederick Sturckow, Jerry Ross, Nancy Currie-Gregg, James Newman, and Sergei Krikalev (Roscosmos).

Ross and Newman performed three EVAs for a total of over 21 hours, to complete the Unity node installation.

They returned to Earth December 13.  

Discovery (STS-41) launched 1990

STS-41 crew (L-R): Bruce Melnick, Robert Cabana, Thomas Akers, Richard Richards, William Shepherd

Mission patch

Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-41), launched October 6, 1990, deployed the Ulysses probe, which was sent to study the polar regions of the sun.  Its crew consisted of Commander Richard Richards, Pilot Robert Cabana, Bruce Melnick, William Shepherd and Thomas Akers.

Ulysses was launched only six hours after Discovery took off.  The crew returned to Earth October 10.

Columbia (STS-65) launched 1994

STS-65 crew 

Seated (L-R): Richard Hieb, Robert Cabana, Donald Thomas

Standing (L-R): Leroy Chiao, James Halsell, Chiaki Mukai, Carl Walz

Mission patch

Space shuttle Columbia (STS-65), launched July 8, 1994, was the second flight of the Spacelab to conduct research in a microgravity environment. Its crew consisted of Commander Robert Cabana, Pilot James Halsell, Richard Hieb, Carl Walz, Leroy Chiao, Donald Thomas, and Chiaki Mukai.

They returned to Earth July 23.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Robert Cabana!

Robert Cabana, born January 23, 1949 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights.  He became a naval aviator in the US Marine Corps.

His first flight was on Discovery (STS-41) in October 1990 as pilot.  The primary objective of the mission was to launch the Ulysses probe which was to study the polar regions of the sun. 

His second flight was again on Discovery (STS-53) and as pilot in December 1992.  It was a mission for the US Department of Defense.

Cabana's third flight was aboard Columbia (STS-65) in July 1994 as commander.  The crew conducted experiments from the space agencies from Japan, Canada, Germany and France as well as NASA and the ESA.

His fourth and final mission was on Endeavour (STS-88) in December 1998 as commander.  It was the first space shuttle mission to the International Space Station.

After he retired from being an astronaut he became director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center.