Robert Shane Kimbrough (born June 4, 1967) is a retired

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," f ...

and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

. He was part of the first group of candidates selected for NASA astronaut training following the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster. Kimbrough is a veteran of three spaceflights, the first being a Space Shuttle flight, and the second being a six-month mission to the ISS on board a Russian Soyuz craft. He was the commander of the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

for

Expedition 50 Expedition 50 was the 50th expedition to the International Space Station. Robert S. Kimbrough, Andrei Borisenko and Sergey Ryzhikov transferred from Expedition 49. Expedition 50 began upon the departure of Soyuz MS-01 on October 28, 2016 and ...

, and returned to Earth in April 2017. He is married to the former Robbie Lynn Nickels.

Early life

Born June 4, 1967, in

Killeen, Texas Killeen is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. According to the 2020 census, its population was 153,095, making it the 19th-most populous city in Texas and the largest of the three principal cities of Bell County. It is the principal city ...

, Kimbrough attended

The Lovett School The Lovett School is a coeducational, kindergarten through twelfth grade independent school located in north Atlanta, Georgia, United States. History In September 1926, Eva Edwards Lovett, an innovative educator who emphasized the development o ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, graduating in 1985. Kimbrough graduated from the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

in 1989 with a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

. He played for the West Point baseball team for 4 years, and was selected as team captain his senior year.

Military career

Kimbrough served as an

Apache helicopter The Boeing AH-64 Apache () is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. It features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night visi ...

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

in the first

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

in 1991. Kimbrough later attended and graduated from

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

with a

M.S. A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

in operations research in 1998. He helped NASA train astronauts on landing procedures for several years before he himself was selected for training. He retired from the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

with the rank of

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

NASA career

STS-126

Kimbrough was a Mission Specialist on

STS-126 STS-126 was the one hundred and twenty-fourth NASA Space Shuttle mission, and twenty-second orbital flight of the ''Space Shuttle Endeavour'' (OV-105) to the International Space Station (ISS). The purpose of the mission, referred to as ULF2 by ...

, which launched on November 14, 2008. During the mission, Kimbrough performed two EVAs. On the tenth anniversary of the International Space Station, Stefanyshyn-Piper and Kimbrough successfully conducted the mission's second EVA, and Kimbrough's first, which lasted 6 hours, 45 minutes. Kimbrough's second EVA was performed on November 24, 2008, and lasted 6 hours and 7 minutes. At the completion of the mission, Kimbrough's cumulative spacewalk time, was 12 hours, 52 minutes.

Expedition 49/50

Kimbrough launched onboard

Soyuz MS-02 Soyuz MS-02 was a 2016 Soyuz spaceflight that was planned for a 23 September 2016 launch, but because of technical difficulties it launched on 19 October 2016. It transported three members of the Expedition 49 crew to orbit and docked with th ...

to the

on October 19, 2016, as part of a four-month mission for

Expedition 49 Expedition 49 was the 49th expedition to the International Space Station. Anatoli Ivanishin, Kathleen Rubins and Takuya Onishi transferred from Expedition 48. Expedition 49 began upon the departure of Soyuz TMA-20M on September 6, 2016 and conclu ...

/50. Kimbrough became commander of Expedition 50 upon the departure of

Soyuz MS-01 Soyuz MS-01 was a 2016 Soyuz spaceflight to the International Space Station. Originally scheduled for launch in June 2016, the mission successfully lifted off from Kazakhstan on 7 July 2016. It transported three members of the Expedition 48 cr ...

on October 28. On January 6, 2017, Kimbrough performed his third EVA, along with

Peggy Whitson Peggy Annette Whitson (born February 9, 1960) is an American biochemistry researcher, retired NASA astronaut, and former NASA Chief Astronaut. Whitson has a total of 665 days in space, more than any other woman or American. Her first space mi ...

. During the EVA, they installed three new adapter plates and hooked up electrical connectors preparing the way to replace the ISS batteries. The EVA lasted 6 hours and 32 minutes. ISS-50 EVA-1 (g) Shane Kimbrough

Kimbrough performed his fourth EVA with astronaut

Thomas Pesquet Thomas Gautier Pesquet (; born 27 February 1978 in Rouen) is a French aerospace engineer, pilot, and European Space Agency astronaut. Pesquet was selected by ESA as a candidate in May 2009, and he successfully completed his basic training in Nov ...

on January 13, 2017. During the EVA, they prepared the infrastructure to replace the ISS batteries. The EVA lasted for 5 hours and 58 minutes. On March 23, 2017, Kimbrough performed his fifth EVA with Thomas Pesquet. The main objective was to prepare the Pressurized Mating Adapter-3 (PMA-3) for installation of the second International Docking Adapter (IDA), which will accommodate commercial crew vehicle dockings. The EVA lasted for 6 hours and 34 minutes. On March 30, 2017, Kimbrough performed his sixth EVA with

. During the EVA they connected the PMA-3 as well as installing new shields in Node 3 axial shields after losing one shield. Additionally installed another upgraded computer relay boxes on the station's truss. The EVA lasted 7 hours and 4 minutes. During this EVA Whitson became the record holder for the most EVAs for a woman (8 EVAs). Kimbrough carried a soccer ball recovered from the wreckage of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' to the ISS, after which it was returned to the family of ''Challenger'' astronaut

Ellison Onizuka was an American astronaut, engineer, and USAF test pilot from Kealakekua, Hawaii, who successfully flew into space with the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' on STS-51-C. He died in the destruction of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'', on which he wa ...

and put on display at Clear Lake High School in Houston.

Expedition 65/66

In July 2020, NASA announced that Kimbrough would fly to space for the third time as Commander of

SpaceX Crew-2 SpaceX Crew-2 was the second operational flight of a Crew Dragon spacecraft, and the third overall crewed orbital flight of the Commercial Crew Program. The mission was launched on 23 April 2021 at 09:49:02 UTC, and docked to the Internationa ...

along with NASA astronaut

Megan McArthur Katherine Megan McArthur (born August 30, 1971) is an American oceanographer, engineer, and NASA astronaut. She has served as a Capsule Communicator (CAPCOM) for both the Space Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS). Megan McArthur has fl ...

JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orb ...

astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and

ESA , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

astronaut

. Crew-2 launched and docked with the ISS on April 24, 2021, beginning their 6 month mission. During his stay on the ISS, he performed 3 EVAs to install the iROSA solar arrays on the P6 Truss, with Thomas Pesquet. Some of the experiments he did included earth observations, protein crystal growth and cultivating cotton and peppers. Crew-2 splashed down off the coast of Florida on November 9, 2021, after a 199 days mission.

Retirement

Kimbrough retired from NASA on July 31, 2022.

References

External links

*
NASA biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kimbrough, Shane 1967 births Living people United States Army astronauts People from Killeen, Texas United States Military Academy alumni American Master Army Aviators United States Military Academy faculty Georgia Tech alumni United States Army colonels United States Army personnel of the Gulf War Commanders of the International Space Station The Lovett School alumni Space Shuttle program astronauts SpaceX astronauts Spacewalkers