Spokesperson Bios

U.S. Army astronaut Lt. Col. Shane Kimbrough credits the Army for providing him with the leadership and teamwork skills as well as the education he needed to achieve his goal of becoming an astronaut.  Kimbrough said the Army provided him with the opportunity to travel to space, as a member of the STS-126 shuttle crew in November 2008.

The 41-year-old from Atlanta, Ga., graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering.  After graduating, he was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the U.S. Army and was soon after designated an Army aviator.

In 1990, Kimbrough deployed to southwest Asia where he served in Operation Desert Storm in the infantry division as an attack helicopter platoon leader, aviation liaison officer, and attack helicopter battalion operations officer.  When he returned, he commanded an Apache helicopter company at Fort Bragg, N.C.  With the Army Apache company, Kimbrough said he worked closely with leading-edge technology that would eventually help him easily adapt to using the technology at NASA.

The Army paid for Kimbrough to continue his education, and he received a master’s degree in operations research from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1998.  From there, Kimbrough returned to West Point as an assistant professor in the department of mathematical sciences.

In September 2000, Kimbrough joined NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.  He was initially assigned to the aircraft operations division where he served as a flight simulation engineer.   While there, Kimbrough used his leadership skills to teach mission commanders how to land the shuttle using modified aircraft designed to look and feel like the space shuttle.

Kimbrough was then assigned to mission control where he worked as a capsule communicator serving as the primary communicator between the ground support team and the astronauts in orbit.  Kimbrough said the Army prepared him for this role with the skills to manage difficult scenarios that require quick decisions.

In May 2004, NASA selected Kimbrough to be an astronaut.  Four years later, he launched on the shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station.  During the nearly 16-day mission, his crew expanded the space station, in what they called the “extreme home improvement” mission, to make room for a six-member crew and installed a water recycling system.  Kimbrough was able to perform two spacewalks during that mission.

In summer 2009, Kimbrough will begin working as a member of the Cape Crusaders, a NASA team that prepares shuttles before launch at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.