Highlights of those missions included the first interplanetary probes launched from the shuttle to study Venus, Jupiter, and the Sun’s polar regions, deployment of two of NASA’s Great Observatories, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Gamma Ray Observatory, eight Spacelab-class science missions, seven missions for the Department of Defense, the first three-person spacewalk to repair the Intelsat satellite, and demonstrations of technologies and techniques needed for space station construction and operations. Over the next five years, Cohen oversaw 30 more shuttle missions, including the addition of Challenger’s replacement Endeavour to the fleet in 1991. 29, Discovery’s STS-26 crew safely returned the space shuttle to flight. In September 1988, a few days before they launched into space, President Reagan visited JSC, where he met with the crew and with Cohen, and reaffirmed his support for the nation’s space program. Reagan during his visit to JSC in September 1988, just a few days before the STS-26 crew, at right, departed for their launch to returnĪs part of the shuttle’s return to flight activities, Cohen introduced the five-member STS-26 crew during a press conference in January 1987. Right: Cohen, left, listens to President Ronald W. Left: Director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston Aaron Cohen, right, during a January 1987 press conference to introduce the STS-26 crew. She succeeded him as center director in 1994. Huntoon as director of Space and Life Sciences. Cohen named JSC Associate Director Carolyn L. Moser who became director of the Space Station Program Office, at the time managed at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. Pohl director of engineering, replacing Thomas L. To help him manage the day-to-day operations of the center, Cohen named Skylab and Shuttle astronaut Paul J. To address these and other pressing issues, in his first few months in office Cohen instituted several changes in JSC’s top management. Reagan directed in 1984 that still faced significant development challenges. In addition to safely returning the space shuttle to flight, Cohen’s other major task involved preparing the center for the space station, a program President Ronald W. Clements during his May 1988 visit to JSC.Ĭohen took over the helm at JSC nine months after the January 1986 Challenger accident. Right: Cohen, left, with Texas Governor William P. Gilruth, the first director (1961-1972) of JSC, then known as the Manned Spacecraft Center, visits with JSC Director Aaron Cohen in January 1988. Left: Official portrait of Aaron Cohen, fifth director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston. After one year in that role, he was named director of research and engineering before being named JSC’s fifth director in October 1986, succeeding Jesse W. Two years later, he joined the newly-formed Space Shuttle Program as manager of the Orbiter Project Office, serving in that position until 1982 when he became director of engineering and development. He assumed progressively more responsible positions in the Apollo Program Spacecraft Office, becoming manager of the command and service modules in 1970. The Project Management Building, known today as Building 1, with its four flagpoles, at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, in November 2021.Īaron Cohen (October 1986 to August 1993)Īaron Cohen joined JSC, then known as the Manned Spacecraft Center, in 1962 as a structural and materials engineer in the spacecraft research division working on the Apollo spacecraft. For more information about the directors who led the center, please visit Johnson Space Center Directors | NASA. In addition to making high-level decisions to maintain America’s leadership in human spaceflight, JSC’s center directors’ many varied activities also include greeting astronauts after their return from space, dedicating new facilities, and meeting with local politicians, world leaders, and celebrities. This article, covering the period from 1986 to 1993, focuses on JSC’s fifth director Aaron Cohen, who led the center in the space shuttle’s safe return to flight after the Challenger tragedy, through redesigns of the space station, and significant construction at JSC to prepare for the new program. The first two installments described the Project Management Building and the center’s first four directors through 1986. This series of articles features the 13 unique individuals who have led NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston during the past 60 years and continue to lead us into the future of human space exploration.
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