KENNETH D. BOWERSOX (CAPTAIN, USN, RET.)

NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER)

PERSONAL DATA: Born November 14, 1956, in Portsmouth, Virginia, but considers 

Bedford, Indiana, to be his hometown. 

EDUCATION: Graduated from Bedford High School, Bedford, Indiana, in 1974; 

received a bachelor of science degree in aerospace engineering from the United States 

Naval Academy in 1978, and a master of science degree in mechanical engineering from 

Columbia University in 1979.

EXPERIENCE: Bowersox received his commission in the United States Navy in 1978 

and was designated a Naval Aviator in 1981. He was then assigned to Attack Squadron 

22, aboard the USS Enterprise, where he served as a Fleet A-7E pilot, logging over 300 

carrier arrested landings. Following graduation from the United States Air Force Test 

Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base, California, in 1985, he moved to the Naval 

Weapon Center at China Lake, California, where he spent the next year and a half as a test 

pilot flying A-7E and F/A-18 aircraft until advised of his selection to the astronaut 

program. 

NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in June 1987, Bowersox completed a one-year training 

and evaluation program in August 1988. He held a variety of assignments since then including: flight software testing in the

Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL); Technical Assistant to the Director of Flight Crew Operations; Astronaut Office 

representative for Orbiter landing and rollout issues; Chief of the Astronaut Office Safety Branch; Chairman of the Spaceflight 

Safety Panel; during several Shuttle missions he served as a spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) in the Houston Mission 

Control Center; was back-up to the first International Space Station crew; and served as the Director, Flight Crew Operations 

Directorate. A five flight veteran, Bowersox logged over 211 days in space including 2 EVAs totaling 13 hours and 17 minutes. 

He was the pilot on STS-50 (1992) and STS-61 (1993), spacecraft commander on STS-73 (1995) and STS-82 (1997), and most 

recently served as Expedition-6 Crew Commander for 5-1/2 months aboard the International Space Station (2002-2003). 

Bowersox retired from NASA and the U.S. Navy in December 2006.

Bowersox served as the director of the Johnson Space Center's Flight Crew Operations Directorate, retiring from NASA and the 

U.S. Navy in December, 2006. He remained involved with the U.S. space exploration program as a member of the standing 

review boards for ISS, Space Shuttle, and the Constellation Program. From 2009-2011, Bowersox was the Vice President of 

Astronaut Safety and Mission Assurance at SpaceX. He joined the NASA Advisory Council in November 2013, and served as 

Chair of the Human Exploration and Operations Committee. Bowersox then served as the Interim Chair of the NASA Advisory 

Council from June 2016 to January 2017. On July 10, 2019, he was named acting associate administrator for NASA's Human 

Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate.

SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-50, June 25-July 9, 1992, was the first flight of the United States Microgravity 

Laboratory and the first Extended Duration Orbiter flight. Over a two-week period, the STS-50 flight crew aboard Space Shuttle 

Columbia conducted a wide variety of experiments relating to materials processing and fluid physics in a microgravity 

environment. 

STS-61, Dec. 2-13, 1993, was the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) servicing and repair mission. During the 11-day flight, the 

HST was captured and restored to full capacity through a record five space walks by four astronauts. 

STS-73, Oct. 20 to Nov. 5, 1995, was the second flight of the United States Microgravity Laboratory. The mission focused on 

materials science, biotechnology, combustion science, the physics of fluids, and numerous scientific experiments housed in the 

pressurized Spacelab module. 

STS-82, Feb. 11-21, 1997, was the second Hubble Space Telescope (HST) maintenance mission. During the flight, the crew 

retrieved and secured the HST in Discovery’s payload bay. In five space walks, two teams installed two new spectrometers and

eight replacement instruments, as well as replacing insulation patches over three compartments containing key data processing, 

electronics and scientific instrument telemetry packages. Following completion of upgrades and repairs, HST was boosted to a

higher orbit and redeployed. 

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

October 2019

Biographical Data

 Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

 Houston, Texas 77058
Expedition-6, Nov. 23, 2002 to May 3, 2003. During 5-1/2 months aboard the International Space Station, the crew worked with 

numerous U.S. and Russian science experiments. Bowersox and ISS Science Officer Don Pettit performed 2 EVAs (spacewalks) 

to continue the external outfitting of the orbital outpost. The Expedition-6 crew launched on STS-113 Space Shuttle Endeavour

and returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-1.