Quartet elected to U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame

Four veteran shuttle mission commanders will be inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in May, raising the number of space explorers so honored to 70.

Joining the likes of John Glenn, Neil Armstrong and Sally Ride will be an astronaut who served on the Russian Mir space station, one who started construction of the International Space Station, another who now is NASA's chief of safety and the commander of the mission that hauled up the storied Hubble Space Telescope.

The 2008 inductees will be John Blaha, Robert Cabana, Bryan O'Connor and Loren Shriver. The quartet will join during a public ceremony to be held on May 3 at Kennedy Space Center.

They were selected by a committee of current Hall of Fame astronauts, former NASA officials and flight directors, historians, journalists and other space authorities. The process is administered by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.

Blaha, a retired Air Force colonel, flew on five shuttle missions and was the third American to serve aboard the Mir space station. NASA tracking and data relay satellites were deployed on two of the shuttle flights. He piloted a classified Department of Defense flight and commanded a 14-day medical research mission.

Blaha also led the design, development, and integration of the Orbiter Heads-Up Display system and abort procedures which significantly improved crew survivability in the event of multiple main engine failures. He retired from NASA in 1997 to return to his hometown of San Antonio, Texas, where he joined the Executive Management Group of the United Services Automobile Association (USAA).

Cabana, a retired Marine colonel, flew four space missions, including one during which the first two building blocks of the International Space Station were linked in orbit.

Cabana piloted the 1990 flight to deploy the plutonium-powered Ulysses solar observatory, which still is operating in orbit around the sun, as well as a classified DOD mission. He also commanded a research mission that set a record for the longest shuttle flight.

Cabana served as Deputy Chief of NASA's Aircraft Operations Division and Chief of the Astronaut Office. He was Johnson Space Center's Deputy Director for three and a half years and now is Director of NASA's Stennis Space Center.

O'Connor, a retired Marine colonel, flew two space shuttle missions before serving in several senior management spots within the agency.

O'Connor piloted Atlantis on only the second nighttime shuttle launch, a mission during which four satellites were deployed and astronauts tested techniques for assembling structures in low Earth orbit.

A safety expert who played a key role in NASA's recovery from the 1986 Challenger accident, O'Connor later served as Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Flight at NASA Headquarters. He headed the redesign effort that led to the International Space Station and also served as Space Station Program Director and Space Shuttle Program Director before leaving NASA again in 1996 to serve as an aerospace consultant.

O'Connor returned to the agency in 2002 and since has served as NASA's chief safety officer.














Shriver, a retired Air Force colonel, joined NASA's Astronaut Corps along with the Thirty-Five New Guys (TFNG) -- the class of 1978 -- the first selected to fly during the shuttle program.

He piloted a classified Department of Defense mission in 1985 and then served as commander of the mission to deploy the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990. His third and last flight was as commander of a mission to test the Italian Tethered Satellite System and deploy the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA).

Shriver served as the manager of shuttle integration at Kennedy Space Center and the Deputy Director of KSC before leaving NASA to join United Space Alliance, the company that operates NASA's shuttle fleet. He now is the company's Vice President of Engineering and Integration and Chief Technology Officer.

The four represent the seventh group of shuttle astronauts named to the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. Earlier inductees include astronauts from the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz programs.

The Hall of Fame is affiliated with the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, which was created by the surviving members of the original Mercury 7 astronauts (and Gus Grissom's widow, Betty) in 1984 to raise money for students pursuing careers in science, engineering, math and technology. To date, more than $2.5 million has been awarded to deserving students.

The public is invited to May 3 induction ceremony. It will be included with admission to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Special Induction Weekend ticket packages are available for $70 plus tax for adults and $50 plus tax for children and include: Two-day admission to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and the U.S Astronaut Hall of Fame; reserved seating at the Induction Ceremony; a special lunch with the astronauts; and a commeorative souvenir poster featuring the 2008 inductees.

Tickets are available by telephone at 321-449-4400 or online at www.kennedyspacecenter.com. Local accommodations are also available.