Jabarkan Kerjaya NASA dari Robert L. Gibson dalam bahasa melayu

Beliau telah dipilih oleh NASA dalam bulan Januari 1978, Gibson telah menjadi seorang angkasawan dalam bulan Ogos 1979. Gibson telah menerbangkan lima misi : STS-41-B dalam tahun 1984, STS-61-C dalam tahun 1986, STS-27 dalam tahun 1988, STS-47 dalam tahun 1992, dan STS-71 dalam tahun 1995. Gibson telah berkhidmat sebagai Ketua di Pejabat Angkasawan (Disember 1992 hingga September 1994) dan sebagai  Penolong Pengarah, Flight Crew Operations (March-November 1996).

Pada penerbangan angkasanya yang pertama, Gibson merupakan seorang juruterbang bagi anak kapal STS 41-B yang telah dilancarkan dari Pusat Angkasalepas Kennedy, Florida, pada 3 Februari, 1984. Penerbangan itu berjaya mengatur kedudukan duasatelit komunikasi Hughes 376 yang gagal sampai ke orbit segerak disebabkan oleh kegagalan roket peringkat bahagian atas. Pengesan Rendezvous dan program-program komputer telah diuji-terbang buat pertama kali. Misi STS 41-B menandakan misi daftar keluar bagi Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), dan  Manipulator Foot Restraint (MFR), dengan Bruce McCandless II dan Bob Stewart menunjukkan persembahan hebat dua EVAs (jalan angkasa). Satelit Jerman, German Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS), Remote Manipulator System (RMS), enam "Getaway Specials," dan eksperimen-eksperimen pemprosesan bahan telah dimasukkan di dalam misi berkenaan. Enam hari penerbangan orbit bagi Challenger berkesudahan dengan pendaratan pertama di landasan Kennedy Space Center pada  Februari 11, 1984, dan Gibson telah mendaratkan 191 jam di angkasa.

Gibson was the spacecraft commander of the STS-61-C mission. The seven-man crew on board the Orbiter Columbia launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on January 12, 1986. During the six-day flight the crew deployed the SATCOM KU satellite and conducted experiments in astrophysics and materials processing. The mission concluded with a successful night landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on January 18, 1986, and logged him an additional 146 hours in space.

Gibson subsequently participated in the investigation of the Space Shuttle Challenger accident, and also participated in the redesign and recertification of the solid rocket boosters.

As the spacecraft commander of STS-27, Gibson and his five-man crew launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on December 2, 1988, aboard the Orbiter Atlantis. The mission carried a Department of Defense payload, and a number of secondary payloads. After 68 orbits of the Earth the mission concluded with a dry lakebed landing on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on December 6, 1988. Mission duration was 105 hours.

On Gibson's fourth space flight, the 50th Space Shuttle mission, he served as spacecraft commander of STS-47, Spacelab-J, which launched on September 12, 1992 aboard the Orbiter Endeavour. The mission was a cooperative venture between the United States and Japan, and included the first Japanese astronaut as a member of the seven-person crew. During the eight-day flight, the crew focused on life science and materials processing experiments in over forty investigations in the Spacelab laboratory, as well as scientific and engineering tests performed aboard the Orbiter Endeavour. The mission ended with a successful landing on the runway at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida after 126 orbits of the Earth on September 20, 1992.

On his last flight, (June 27 to July 7, 1995), Gibson commanded a crew of seven-members (up) and eight-members (down) on Space Shuttle mission STS-71. This was the first Space Shuttle mission to dock with the Russian Space Station Mir, and involved an exchange of crews. The Atlantis Space Shuttle was modified to carry a docking system compatible with the Russian Mir Space Station. It also carried a Spacelab module in the payload bay in which the crew performed various life sciences experiments and data collections. Mission duration was 235 hours, 23 minutes.

In five space flights, Gibson completed a total of 36.5 days in space.