[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 190 (Wednesday, November 15, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5537-S5538]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO BOB CABANA

  Mr. KELLY. Mr. President, this week, NASA Associate Administrator, 
former astronaut, and my friend Colonel Robert Cabana announced his 
retirement, effective December 31, after more than 38 years of public 
service to NASA. In his current capacity as Associate Administrator, 
Colonel Cabana served as the Agency's highest ranking civil servant, 
third highest ranking NASA official, and the senior adviser to NASA 
Administrator Bill Nelson and Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy. Colonel 
Cabana's legacy, among many things, includes a significant contribution 
to the Nation's human spaceflight program and decades of energetic 
leadership at the Agency. On a personal level, he played an important 
leadership role within the astronaut corps, including as chief of 
NASA's Astronaut Office when I was as an astronaut and during my 
selection and early years at NASA. I am honored to congratulate Bob on 
his retirement and thank him for his many years of service.
  Born in Minneapolis, Bob graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, 
became a naval aviator, and graduated with distinction from the U.S. 
Naval Test Pilot School in 1981. During his military career, he logged 
over 7,000 hours in more than 50 different kinds of aircraft. He 
retired as a colonel from the U.S. Marine Corps in September 2000.
  Bob was selected as an astronaut candidate in 1985 and went on to log 
38 days in space during four shuttle missions. He piloted the Space 
Shuttle Discovery on missions STS-41 in 1990 and STS-53 in 1992. During 
STS-53, the crew conducted microgravity research experiments that 
helped pave the way for future operations aboard the International 
Space Station. He commanded Columbia's STS-65 mission in 1994, and in 
1998, his final flight, he commanded Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-88, 
which was the first International Space Station assembly mission.
  The International Space Station has been orbiting Earth about every 
90 minutes and conducting groundbreaking science since November 2000 
thanks to the contributions by Bob during STS-88. While at the Johnson 
Space Center, he served as the lead astronaut in the Shuttle Avionics 
Integration Laboratory, Mission Control Spacecraft Communicator--
CAPCOM--and as the director of Flight Crew Operations Directorate.

[[Page S5538]]

  He went on to serve as the Deputy Director of the Johnson Space 
Center, the Center Director of NASA's Stennis Space Center, and then 
the Center Director at the Kennedy Space Center in 2007, where he led 
its transition from retirement of the space shuttle to a multi-user 
spaceport once again launching NASA astronauts to low Earth orbit and, 
for the first time, doing so with commercial partners. He served for 
more than a decade at the Kennedy Space Center until Senator Nelson 
called him up to headquarters in 2021.
  And as Associate Administrator of the Agency, Bob has led NASA's 10 
Center Directors, as well as the Mission Directorate Associate 
Administrators at NASA Headquarters in Washington. He has been the 
Agency's chief operating officer for more than 18,000 employees and 
oversaw an annual budget of more than $25 billion.
  Bob's many achievements have been recognized with induction into the 
Astronaut Hall of Fame and being named an associate fellow in the 
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a fellow in the 
Society of Experimental Test Pilots. He has received numerous personal 
awards and decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross and 
the Presidential Distinguished Rank Award. He also is a recipient of 
the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement's National Space 
Trophy.
  Thank you and congratulations to Bob for your many years of service, 
your dedicated leadership at NASA, your contribution to our Nation's 
spaceflight program, and your inspiration to us all.

                          ____________________