John McCreary Fabian (1939-2026)

[Orionid]

John McCreary Fabian (28.01.1939-21.05.2026)

John McCreary Fabian został wyselekcjonowany w ramach NASA grupa 8

120. człowiek w kosmosie.

Odbył 2 loty kosmiczne, które trwały łącznie 13d 04h 02m 59s:

18.06.1983-24.06.1983 STS-7 Challenger/F-2 006:02:24:07
17.06.1985-24.06.1985 STS-51G Discovery/F-5 007:01:38:52

Wchodził w skład 1-ej załogi, której członkowie pochodzili z naboru przeprowadzonego w 1978 roku.

Jeden z byłych astronautów o polskich korzeniach
https://www.forum.kosmonauta.net/index.php?topic=140.msg185303#msg185303

Został pierwszą osobą, która rozmieściła z pokładu statku kosmicznego satelitę oraz dokonała jego odzyskania.

28.01.1939 urodził się w Goosecreek w Teksasie.

1957 ukończył szkołę średnią Pullman High School.

1962 ukończył Washington State University, uzyskując tytuł licencjata z inżynierii mechanicznej.

1962 otrzymał stopień oficerski po ukończeniu studiów.

1964 uzyskał tytuł magistra inżynierii lotniczej w Air Force Institute of Technology.

Podczas studiów na Washington State University ukończył program szkoleniowy Air Force ROTC).

Swoją karierę w Siłach Powietrznych rozpoczął w Air Force Institute of Technology.

Po ukończeniu studiów został przydzielony do bazy Kelly AFB w Teksasie, w dowództwie inżynierii materiałowej w San Antonio Air Material Area Engineering Command, jako inżynier lotniczy.

Następnie ukończył szkolenie lotnicze w Williams Air Force Base w Arizonie i przez pięć lat służył jako pilot samolotu KC-135 w Wurtsmith Air Force Base w stanie Michigan.

Brał udział w operacjach w Wietnamie i odbył 90 misji bojowych.

W 1974 roku uzyskał doktorat z lotnictwa i astronautyki na Uniwersytecie Waszyngtońskim.

1974–1978 służył w Aeronautics Department at the USAF Academy w Kolorado.

08.1979 po ukończeniu szkolenia General Space Flight (GSF) został przydzielony do Biura Astronautów jako Specjalista Misji.
W Biurze Astronautów pracował przy startach satelitów z pokładu wahadłowców kosmicznych oraz przy odbiorze ładunków z orbity.
Brał udział w rozwoju Kanadyjskiego Systemu Zdalnego Manipulatora (CRMS).

STS-7 Challenger

STS-51G Discovery

31.12.1985 przeszedł na emeryturę z korpusu astronautów i NASA.

Po odejściu z NASA pełnił funkcję zastępcy szefa sztabu Sił Powietrznych ds. planowania i operacji oraz szefa Departamentu Kosmicznego w Kwaterze Głównej Sił Powietrznych (Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans and Operations, Headquarters USAF).

06.1987 pułkownik Fabian przeszedł na emeryturę z USAF.

Następnie rozpoczął pracę w firmie Analytic Services Inc. (ANSER) w Arlington w stanie Wirginia, gdzie pełnił funkcję wiceprezesa i dyrektora administracyjnego.

Ma na koncie ponad 4000 godzin lotu, w tym około 3400 godzin na samolotach odrzutowych.

https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/fabian_john.pdf

http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/astronauts/english/fabian_john.htm
http://www.astronautix.com/f/fabian.html
https://www.worldspaceflight.com/bios/f/fabian-j.php

https://mek.kosmo.cz/bio/usa/00120.htm
https://www.kozmo-data.sk/kozmonauti/fabian-john-mccreary.html
https://www.astronaut.ru/crossroad/120.htm
https://www.april12.eu/usaastron/fabian120ru.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_M._Fabian
https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McCreary_Fabian
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fabian

https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral_histories/FabianJM/FabianJM_2-10-06.htm
https://magazine.wsu.edu/web-extra/space-cougs/

28 janvier
Bon anniversaire (85) à John M. Fabian🎂🎂🎂
(2 vols : STS-7 et STS-51G soit 13 jours 04 heures 03 minutes dans l'espace)

https://twitter.com/spacemen1969/status/1751501612122776000
K

[Orionid]

Interesujący artykuł o rezygnacjach astronautów.

Astronauts' Resignations On the Rise
By Thomas O'TooleOctober 28, 1985

When veteran astronaut John M. Fabian won his third shuttle assignment five months ago, he was ecstatic. His new assignment put him on the crew of the first space shuttle carrying a cargo destined for another planet, Jupiter, in May 1986.

But two months later, Fabian gave up his mission and resigned from the astronaut corps. The job, he said, was putting too much pressure on his family life.

Fabian's was the eighth astronaut resignation in the last 16 months, a sign that perhaps all is not well in the corps. At the least, the resignations suggest that the workaholic way of life that is the hallmark of astronaut service may have begun to rub away some of the glamor.

Fabian's abrupt and unexpected resignation shocked the corps, whose spirit and solidarity are said to be second to none.

"A person can only continue to be an astronaut a certain length of time and that's it," said Fabian, an Air Force colonel and seven-year veteran astronaut. "So I came home one night and told my wife, 'I put the job first for 24 years, and I'm not doing it any more. I quit.'

"There's a payoff to astronauts working 16-hour days, six or seven days a week, and that is they get to fly in space," Fabian said. "Their families don't get that payoff. All they see are the missed dinners and the trips out of town to Cape Canaveral or some contractor's factory in California."

The spurt of resignations is considered a "wave" in the astronaut corps, where one resignation a year has been an average for the last 20 years.

Besides Fabian, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the last 16 months has lost Joseph P. Allen; Terry Hart; William Lenoir; Jack Lousma; Thomas K. Mattingly; Donald Peterson and Richard Truly. All eight were veterans in the prime of their careers and whose combined experience covered 12 of the 21 shuttle missions flown so far.

"Are these resignations something we worry about? Yes, especially the younger ones like Allen 45 and Fabian 44 , who still have a lot of tread left on them," NASA Administrator James M. Beggs said in an interview. "We've now begun to lose the guys we've educated and trained to do the most difficult things we do, like spacewalks, and if this trend starts to increase, it's going to disturb me."

Fabian, explaining his family pressures, said his son just graduated from the Air Force Academy and his daughter started college this fall in upstate New York, leaving his wife home alone for the first time in years.

"I came home one night and my wife told me, 'I'm ready to move out of Houston this year, and I hope you are ready to move with me.' I got the message," Fabian said, "and when I came home in July after an eight-day trip to France with the rest of the crew from my last mission, I decided it was time to leave Houston."

Joe Allen's story is similar, though he stayed in Houston to work with a firm called Space Industries Inc. when he quit the astronaut service six months ago. "My wife kept saying one thing to me, over and over again: 'Joe, when are you going to get a real job?' "

Stripped of its glamor, astronaut service is demanding work that keeps its members away from home. One female astronaut, who just began training for a flight late next year, said she has seen her husband twice in the last two months. "The last time it was for 12 hours," she said, "and for six of those we were both asleep."

Astronaut training ranges from studying the physics and biology of space flight to making parachute jumps and three-day survival visits to the jungle of Panama. Classroom hours match the time PhD candidates spend at study. Physical fitness is a must, but astronauts don't get time off for exercise. They must do it on their own time.

Once an astronaut is assigned a mission, the training pace steps up. At Houston's Johnson Space Center and Florida's Kennedy Space Center, there are around-the-clock computer simulations of astronaut tasks and potential problems in space. Astronauts also visit other NASA centers and contractors' factories to become familiar with the equipment they will use on their missions.

"I remember finishing my last flight in June and starting training for my next flight the next day," Fabian said. "Our first assignment was a trip to California to be briefed on the Galileo spacecraft we were going to carry on the shuttle."

NASA officials said there is nothing they can do to slow the training pace, mostly because they believe it is the reason the United States has never had a fatal accident in space. NASA Administrator Beggs indicated that the way to keep astronauts happy and in the corps is to keep them busy and assigned to a mission.

But that didn't stop John Fabian from leaving. "I'll miss flying and I'll miss the people, but I don't want to be known to posterity as the oldest astronaut to fly in space," he said. "It's time to move on to another life."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/10/28/astronauts-resignations-on-the-rise/057f2019-21d8-4fc9-84de-870949094e0c/

Challenger astronaut John Fabian, at home paying bills after...
By BRUCE NICHOLS JUNE 25, 1983

James Harrington, a NASA official at Edwards, said one of the shuttle's four landing gear brakes broke after landing and about 25 insulation tiles were damaged. He said the tile damage would be easy to repair, but he said it was not known if the brake problem would affect preparations for the next launch in August.

The photographs of Challenger in space were taken from the West German SPAS satellite that Fabian and Ms. Ride launched and later retrieved using the shuttle's 50-foot robot arm. Television relayed from Challenger Wednesday provided a preview, but Fabian said the 70mm still pictures and 16mm motion picture film to be released in a few days should be breathtaking.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/25/Challenger-astronaut-John-Fabian-at-home-paying-bills-after/2180425361600/

Simulated Flights Prepare Crew for the Real Thing
By Susan OkieMay 11, 1983

A faint, eerie light illuminated the flight deck of the space shuttle simulator in Building 5 at the Johnson Space Center, where the five future crew members of the shuttle's seventh flight were practicing launching satellites.

Astronaut John Fabian sat in the commander's seat, in the left-front corner of the cockpit, checking data displayed on a computer screen against a checklist of procedures in a flight manual. Beside him, pilot Rick Hauck stared out the front window into the void.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1983/05/11/simulated-flights-prepare-crew-for-the-real-thing/fe5c5533-07a1-4731-bb1c-09e72a773f87/


Sally Ride and three of her STS-7 crewmates take a break from simulations in the Johnson Space Center's Mission Simulation and Training Facility to pose for a NASA photographer.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/sts-7-crew-training/

The space shuttle; NEWLN: Astronaut John Fabian, the shuttle arm operator is a stamp collector
By BRUCE NICHOLS  JUNE 13, 1983
   
SPACE CENTER, Houston -- Air Force Col. John Fabian, a mission specialist on the seventh space shuttle flight, figured for years that he was too tall or had too little education or flight experience to become an astronaut.

'When they started picking crew members, they picked test pilots, short, bright test pilots. I wasn't any of those things,' joked Fabian. 'I was an observer, an interested observer.' (...)
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/13/The-space-shuttleNEWLNAstronaut-John-Fabian-the-shuttle-arm-operator-is-a-stamp-collector/1138424324800/

Retired astronaut in Port Ludlow among Puget Sound Legacy recipients
Published 1:17 am Sunday, May 9, 2010 By Jeff Chew Peninsula Daily News

PORT LUDLOW — Retired astronaut John Fabian’s view of Earth from the Challenger space shuttle served as a window for a new environmental awareness.

That’s what happens to space travelers, said the Port Ludlow man who flew 98 orbits during his first mission in 1983 and 112 the second mission in 1985.

“I don’t know any person who has flown in space who hasn’t come home more environmentally aware,” said Fabian, 71.

“I’m not talking about tree huggers here. I’m talking about conservatives who come back feeling that way.”

Fabian, who co-founded the Hood Canal Coalition in 2002, will be honored during a 7:30 a.m. May 18 breakfast by the People for Puget Sound for his environmental efforts as one of three recipients of the group’s 2010 Warren G. Magnuson Puget Sound Legacy Awards.

U.S. Rep Norm Dicks, D-Belfair, who represents the North Olympic Peninsula in the 6th Congressional District, and Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge manager Jean Takekwa also will be honored at the fifth annual New Day for Puget Sound ceremony at the Westin Seattle Hotel.

Dicks will be honored “for being a lifelong friend of Puget Sound and for advocating and building federal support for Puget Sound protection and recovery,” the group said in a prepared statement.

“John Fabian and the Hood Canal Coalition are recognized for their persistent and courageous efforts to protect the shoreline and critical habitats of Hood Canal from the development of gravel export dock near Shine, in Jefferson County,” People For Puget Sound said.

The Puget Sound Legacy Award honors the late U.S. senator from Washington, Warren G. Magnuson, who died in 1989, for pursuing legislation that protected marine mammals and prohibited supertankers from entering Puget Sound.

Fabian’s passion for the Earth was born off of it.

“It’s incredibly beautiful,” he said of seeing Earth from space.

“It’s incredibly fragile.”

In 1998, that led Fabian back home to Washington state and its evergreen beauty. The retired NASA astronaut and Air Force officer lives on Shine Road overlooking the fjord he loves so well — Hood Canal.

Pit-to-pier

The Hood Canal Coalition was founded amid fears of the industrializaton of the canal in opposition to the proposed Thorndyke Resource pit-to-pier project, then proposed by Fred Hill Materials, now known as Thorndyke Resources.

Thorndyke has proposed a four-mile-long conveyor belt to move gravel from the extraction area near the former Fred Hill Materials shine pit to a 1,000-foot pier at Hood Canal where it would be loaded on barges for shipping.

The site would be located south of Fabian’s home, out of his sight but not out of his mind should barges run past his shoreline view.

He worries that those barges, which would pass through Hood Canal Bridge, pose a serious marine safety threat.

The Hood Canal Coalition also opposes a plan to expand gravel extraction at the Thorndyke Resource’s Shine site.

The coalition was founded during a meeting of about 20 people, Fabian said. It has since grown to about 4,000 members, he said, with tribes, community groups, political parties and environmental groups represented.

Fabian said he was a bit embarrassed to accept the award because so many others are involved in the coalition, including other founding members such as attorney Larry Mayes of Renton and Jay Newkirk of Kitsap County.

No comment

Doug Weese, Thorndyke Resources spokesman, said last week that the company working to bring the pit-to-pier project to Hood Canal chose not to comment about Fabian’s award.

Fabian said the Hood Canal Coalition has exhausted its court battle against the pit-to-pier project.

“We went the limit that we could go in court, but at the same time we said we’re serious about stopping the project,” Fabian said, adding there would likely be no more court battle.

A Washington State Court of Appeals ruling in November upheld then-Fred Hill Materials’ right to expand gravel mining at its site south of state Highway 104.

The decision upheld a visiting Kitsap County Superior Court judge’s ruling.

Judge Anna Laurie a year ago affirmed a 2004 Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board finding that a Jefferson County-approved 690-acre mineral resource land overlay for Fred Hill Materials complies with the state Growth Management Act.

Regents’ post

Fabian said his fight against the pit-to-pier project has not come without a political price.

Gov. Chris Gregoire appointed Fabian to the Washington State University Board of Regents in October 2004.

He was the first regents appointee to have received the regents’ Distinguished Alumnus Award, which he won in 1983.

Fabian, who grew up in Pullman and was a WSU alumnus, resigned May 9, 2005, from the board after serving just six months of a six-year term.

“My appointment to the board of regents ended due to a disagreement with the unions,” Fabian said. He was reluctant to talk about it at the time, saying it would only serve to “open a can of worms.”

Fabian had called union officials “stupid” and “ignorant” for their support of the Fred Hill Materials proposed pit-to-pier project, said Rick Bender, Washington State Labor Council president, who served in the state Legislature from 1973 to 1991 — 10 years in the House and eight in the Senate.

Fred Hill Materials was a union company and Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, is the largest labor organization in the state, representing more than 430,000 rank-and-file union members at the time.

Fabian said Gov. Chris Gregoire, whose election was facing a recount at the time and needed union support, was unable to come to his aid.

“You take the personal shots to do the job,” he said.

Nothing personal

He insists his battle today against the pit-to-pier project is not personal.

“This project has nothing to do with my home or lifestyle. What is does is threaten the environment of Hood Canal,” he said.

Fabian joked that he sees himself as the “unelected, unappointed and reluctant leader of Hood Canal Coalition.”

“I didn’t come home to the state of Washington to get into an environmental fight,” he added.

Fabian said he has no fear of continuing the battle for Hood Canal, but he wants to choose his own fights with Thorndyke.

“I flew 90 combat missions [during the Vietnam War] and have flown on top of two rockets and been married to the same woman for 48 years,” he said with a smile. “So I don’t scare too well.”

While Fabian said he acted as Jefferson County Democrats chairman during a rough patch in its leadership about five years ago, he has no further political ambitions and no plans to run for office.

Born in Goosecreek, Texas, Fabian was commissioned into the Air Force upon graduation from WSU in 1962, and served at the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, before attending flight training at Williams Air Force Base, Ariz., and then five years as a KC-135 pilot at Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Mich.

Following additional graduate work at the University of Washington, he served four years on the faculty of the Aeronautics Department at the USAF Academy in Colorado. He has logged 4,000 hours flying time, including 3,400 hours in jet aircraft.

Fabian said NASA wanted him to launch into two more missions but his wife, Donna — who has also worked for NASA as a contractor for the Mars program — told him that was all the family could take.

Fabian left NASA on Jan. 1, 1986, to become director of space, deputy chief of staff, plans and operations, at Air Force headquarters.

He retired as a colonel from the U.S. Air Force in June 1987 and joined Analytic Services Inc. a nonprofit aerospace professional services firm in Arlington, Va.

He still travels to John F. Kennedy Space Center where he speaks to visitors on a rotating schedule with other former NASA astronauts, who talk about the space program’s past and the future.

“We have an old astronaut there every day to talk to them and sometimes I’m in the barrel,” he said.

“It bothers me that we’ve gotten where we are.”

Where NASA is today is uncertain, with the Obama administration making it clear that the president believes the future of space rests with the private sector, not the space agency.

Dreams of visiting the moon once again and going to Mars are not funded.

“The agency robbed Peter to pay Paul to move the program forward, but it wasn’t fast,” Fabian lamented, with rocket-building no longer in the hands of NASA.

His wife, Donna’s pickup truck sports a license plate, “Go4Mars,” while Fabian, who likes the speed of flight, has “MACH25” on his plate.

“That’s 18,000 miles per hour!” he shouted with a chuckle while looking out over the deep, blue waters of Hood Canal.

https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/2010/05/09/retired-astronaut-in-port-ludlow-among-puget-sound-legacy-recipients/
https://twitter.com/ASE_Astronauts/status/1619425185714606080

Association of Space Explorers @ASE_Astronauts 10:00 PM · Jan 28, 2024
#ASEspotlight: John Fabian 💫
In June 1983, ASE Life Member Fabian gazed out of an overhead window aboard Space Shuttle Challenger during STS-7.
Fun fact: He enjoys skiing!
Happy 85th birthday, John! 🎉

https://twitter.com/ASE_Astronauts/status/1751711948217950365

[mss]

Wczoraj zmarł w wieku 87 lat były astronauta NASA - John McCreary Fabian.

Wziął udział w 2 misjach wahadłowców: STS-7 Challenger/F-2 (18-24.06.1983) oraz STS-51G Discovery/F-5 (17-24.06.1985).

Osiągnął nalot 13 dni 4 godziny 2 minuty i 59 sekund.

[Orionid]

Zmarł bezpośrednio, z uczestników lotów kosmicznych, po pilocie STS-7.
Prawie 3 lata temu zmarł inny astronauta o polskich korzeniach, który pilotował wahadłowiec w poprzedniej misji.

NASA Astronaut John Fabian at Kennedy Space Center previewing the last Shuttle mission. July 2011

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MJ-6aaMEals

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
 28.12.2024 ·
John Fabian is our Astronaut of the Day until January 1! 👨‍🚀
💫 Stop by to hear about his 2️⃣ space shuttle missions.
Explore more 💻: https://tinyurl.com/5febthfw

https://www.facebook.com/KennedySpaceCenterVisitorComplex/posts/john-fabian-is-our-astronaut-of-the-day-until-january-1

Association of Space Explorers @ASE_Astronauts 6:30 PM · May 22, 2026
In Memoriam: ASE Distinguished Member John Fabian
January 28, 1939 - May 21, 2026

https://twitter.com/ASE_Astronauts/status/2057861685629575584

Armstrong Air & Space Museum @armstrongspace 11:23 PM · May 23, 2026
Former NASA astronaut John Fabian passed away on May 21 at the age of 87. A Colonel in the U.S. Air Force, Fabian flew on two Space Shuttle missions, including STS-7, the historic flight that carried Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.

JOHN FABIAN
1939 — 2026

https://twitter.com/armstrongspace/status/2058297743064355275

[Orionid]

John Fabian

“It’s all about the derivative”

Launching into outer space is scary and even more so when one has a good understanding of physics.

The space shuttle weighs about 4.5 million pounds and reaches a speed of 17,500 mph to get to low earth orbit in a total of 8.5 minutes.

Solid rocket boosters burn for about two minutes, in which time the shuttle hits 3500 mph. The three main engines burn for an additional six and a half minutes.

During that time, astronauts are subjected to a maximum of three G-force.

“It’s all about the derivative,” says Astronaut John Fabian, (’62,BS ME) “When there is a high rate of change, there is an increased likelihood of hazard.”

Those who go to space have to be smart, not risk averse, and lucky.

“There are people who are risk crazy, and astronauts are never part of that,” says Fabian. “They want to minimize the risk and have no surprises. They will manage risk and determine what part they’re willing to accept.”

WSU was a keystone

Fabian, who grew up in Pullman, first became interested in flying as a high school student. He started learning about supersonic jets, which had just surpassed speeds of 1000 miles per hour for the first time. “It was the beginning of the supersonic age, and, it just grabbed me,” he says.

With an interest in the aerospace field, he entered WSU’s mechanical engineering program in 1957. He received a scholarship, but he still worked three jobs to put himself through school. The challenge of supporting himself made it difficult to maintain top grades during those years, he remembers, and, unlike today, the education that he received was not exactly intended to inspire.

Instead, he had solid courses in thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and structures.

“There was a lot of meat,” says Fabian. “It was not just science but the application of science, and they set a high standard.”

He remembers favorite professors like Jack Smetana and Jack Kimbrell, as well as Eugene Pare, who was one of a kind and a master at the blackboard.

“The keystone for my career happened at WSU,” he adds. “I am extremely grateful to WSU, which helped me develop as an individual and as a professional.”

Becoming an astronaut: 17,000 applicants for 35 positions

After college, Fabian entered the Air Force, where he became a pilot in 1966. He served two tours as a pilot in Southeast Asia from 1966-1971, flying 96 combat missions. With support of the Air Force, he went on to study aerospace engineering and aeronautics, first at the Air Force Institute of Technology and then at the University of Washington, where he received a doctorate in 1974.

He was teaching at the Air Force Academy when NASA recruited the first class of astronauts for the Space Shuttle program. A total of 17,000 people applied for just 35 positions.

“It was the kind of thing you just had to apply for,” says Fabian. “It was impossible to ignore.”

After he was selected, he went through five years of training. After three and a half years he was selected for the shuttle crew, then a year and a half later he flew for the first time – in June 1983.

Becoming an astronaut requires a good understanding of physics and a technical background. Flying in space is only 10 percent of the job, says Fabian. Ninety percent are things like systems and procedures development. Fabian served on two NASA missions, logging more than 300 hours in space on the Challenger in 1983 and Discovery in 1985.

He flew on his first flight with Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space. It was a complex mission, in which Fabian was the first person ever to deploy and retrieve a free-flying satellite. With Ride on board, the flight rightfully received a lot of media attention.

A new perspective above the earth

Flying in space changes everyone who has had the opportunity to do it.

“It’s an amazing view and an extraordinarily rare opportunity,” says Fabian. “You can learn an awful lot by looking out of the window at the earth. It is just one planet. We don’t see 200 countries, only one planet that we all share.”

Fabian says he doesn’t know anyone who has traveled to space who doesn’t have a different view of the planet when they return. He is involved in the Association of Space Explorers, which is made up of former pilots and engineers who have been to space. Fully one quarter of every meeting of the group is devoted to environmental stewardship. In his own life, Fabian helped to form the Hood Canal Coalition, an environmental watchdog group. He has been involved in a ten-year effort to stop the construction of an industrial port on the Eastern slope of the Olympic Mountains near his home on Hood Canal.

The Future

Visiting the WSU campus earlier this spring, Fabian said it’s refreshing to see the changes happening in the Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture. Unlike his early engineering education, he is excited to see the sense of innovation and inspiration in the introductory engineering class, Engineering 120. The college is increasing its enrollment and working to recruit and retain more women and students from underrepresented groups.

“I think we’re on a good path,” he says. “Increasing the output of engineering graduates is vitally important.”

And, he is optimistic about efforts to inspire more young women to pursue the engineering.

“It’s long past the time when we can be leaving out half of the population,” he says.

For nearly 20 years, the Fabians have been providing scholarships to upper class or graduate students in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. He is also working with Dean Claiborn to establish a new engineering scholarship sponsored by the Association of Space Explorers.

“Scholarships encourage, inspire, and facilitate education,” he says. “Sometimes, they make possible what otherwise would not be.”

Fabian hopes that more resources will be devoted to space research and technology and to NASA’s space programs. The costs of new technologies are high, and as a nation, we have to make a choice about devoting our resources on work that positively impacts our society.

“NASA can’t create a future with view graph engineering, we have to build things,” he says. “NASA currently receives less than one half of one percent of the federal budget. If we can’t devote one percent of our expenditures for the future, we may not have one.”

https://vcea.wsu.edu/aerospace/fabian/

[Orionid]

Autograf astronauty.

Space Shuttle Almanac @ShuttleAlmanac 2:48 AM · May 23, 2026
John Fabian, crew member of STS-7 and STS-51G (18th Shuttle flight) passed away on the 21st. I had the honour of meeting him following his fist flight. He was respected by all.

https://twitter.com/ShuttleAlmanac/status/2057986953883292101

John Fabian NASA Astronaut STS Space US Air Force Signed Autograph FDC
https://www.hollywoodmemorabilia.com/en/nasa/john-fabian-nasa-astronaut-sts-space-us-air-force-signed-autograph

Mała dostępność! Pozostała 1 sztuka Cena:742,02 zł
https://www.etsy.com/pl/listing/1287034586/john-m-fabian-podpisa-i-podpisa-zdjcie?lang_mismatch=1

John Fabian, NASA astronaut who was first to catch a satellite, dies



May 22, 2026 — Former NASA astronaut John Fabian, who in 1983 became the first person to deploy and then retrieve a free-flying satellite, has died at 87.

Fabian's death on Thursday (May 21) was reported by the Association of Space Explorers, the professional society for international astronauts and cosmonauts, which counted him among their distinguished members. (...)

"The manipulator is an intuitive thing. It really is quite easy to use, but it's also a little bit intimidating, because you've got this thing which is 50 feet long out there in the cargo bay, and if you're not careful, you could punch a hole in the wing or do something really stupid with it," said Fabian in a 2006 NASA oral history interview. "So learning how to operate it and learning what constraints need to be applied to that operation was kind of a part of the job that we set out to do."

He put his training to use on Challenger, when he used the robotic arm to let free the first shuttle pallet satellite (SPAS-1) as built by the West German aerospace firm MBB (Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm). The platform carried material science and remote sensing experiments as well as a mass spectrometer to confirm the presence of gases in the orbiter's cargo hold.

"The most fun was using the robot arm to put the German satellite, the SPAS-01, out and then fly around it, practicing formation flying, and ultimately retrieval," said Fabian. "I did the retrieval and the deployment in the morning, and Sally did the one in the afternoon, so we split that."

Before being retrieved, SPAS-01 was also used to capture the first-ever photo in full of a winged spacecraft in orbit. The Canadarm was also posed to resemble the number "7" in reference to their mission designation. (...)
https://www.collectspace.com/news/news-052226a-john-fabian-nasa-astronaut-obituary.html

[Orionid]

John Fabian, astronaut of STS-51-G mission, dies at 87



RIYADH: Former NASA astronaut John Fabian, who flew alongside Prince Sultan bin Salman on the landmark STS-51-G mission in 1985, has died at the age of 87.

Fabian was part of the seven-member crew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery during the mission that carried Prince Sultan into orbit, the first time an Arab, Muslim and Saudi citizen had traveled to space.

Launched on June 17, 1985, the mission lasted for seven days and deployed several communications satellites, including Arabsat-1B for the Arab Satellite Communications Organization.

Prince Sultan bin Salman, special adviser to King Salman and chairman of the board of trustees of the nonprofit Heritage Foundation, described Fabian as a close friend and a key figure during the mission.

“He was a scientist. He was a first-class mission mate, who earned the respect of all of us.” Prince Sultan told Arab News.

“He was the person assigned to support us, myself and Patrick Baudry, as a payload specialist,” he added, referring to French astronaut Baudry, who was also part of the mission crew.


Fabian (L) was part of the seven-member crew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery during the mission that carried Prince Sultan into orbit. (Supplied)

Prince Sultan said Fabian remained active and engaged in scientific work throughout his life. (...)
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2644786/saudi-arabia

[Orionid]

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex @ExploreSpaceKSC 7:32 PM · May 27, 2026
On May 21, 2026, NASA astronaut John Fabian passed away. To honor Fabian's extraordinary life and legacy, a remembrance wreath has been placed in Space Shuttle Atlantis.

https://twitter.com/ExploreSpaceKSC/status/2059689111913390181