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John Fabian

John FABIAN (1939 - 2026)
PROFILE

Full Name:	John McCreary FABIAN.
Rank:	Colonel, US Air Force (Deceased).
Born:	28 January 1939, in Goosecreek, Texas, USA (American). Considered Pullman, Washington State, to be his hometown.
Died:	21 May 2026, in Port Ludlow, Washington State, aged 87.
Education:	1957: Graduated from Pullman High School, Pullman, Washington. 1962: BSc degree in Mechanical Engineering from Washington State University. 1964: MSc degree in Aerospace Engineering, Air Force Institute of Technology. 1974: PhD in Aeronautics and Astronautics, University of Washington.
Career:	1957-62: USAF ROTC student, Washington State University; (3 Jun 1962) BSc degree awarded and upon graduation as a distinguished graduate he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant USAF. 1962-64: Assigned to the Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, to complete his Master's degree studies; (1964) MSc degree awarded. 1964-65: Aeronautics engineer in the Services Engineering Division, San Antonio Air Material Area, Kelly AFB, Texas. 1966: Completed USAF pilot training at Williams AFB, Arizona. 1966-71: Served as a KC-135 pilot and instructor at Wurtsmith AFB, Michigan. During this assignment he completed 90 combat missions on deployment to south-east Asia. 1971-74: Completed graduate work at the University of Washington; (1974) awarded his PhD; his dissertation was "Particle Trajectories in Free-Vortex Flow-Fields". 1974-78: Served in the Astronautics Department faculty of the USAF Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

NASA ASTRONAUT ASSIGNMENTS
1978:	(16 Jan) Selected as a Mission Specialist candidate for NASA Group 8 (The "Thirty-Five New Guys", or TFNG), the first Shuttle-era selection; (1 Jun) began a two-year (later revised to one year) training and evaluation programme, the completion of which qualified him for selection to a Space Shuttle crew as a Mission Specialist (MS); the large group was split administratively for some training classes into the Red and Blue teams, with Fabian assigned as Blue Team Lead; Ascan training.
1979:	Ascan training; (31 Aug) completed Ascan training programme and assigned to the Astronaut Pool for Advanced Training; detailed to the JSC Mission Operations Directorate where his various technical assignments over the years included: (1979) Skylab re-boost support roles; Proximity Operations and Rendezvous (ProxOps); Crew Equipment; Department of Defense (DoD) payloads; Lead Astronaut Office (CB) Operations Support Group (Flight Data File [FDF], future payloads). Fabian also completed extensive work over several years supporting the development of the Remote Manipulator System (RMS); qualified as one of several MS assigned to the Astronaut Office RMS Core Group. His specialty in this group included supporting RMS issues for DoD/USAF deployment and retrieval of classified military payloads; CB technical representative for upper stages (mostly for DoD satellites).
1980:	CB technical assignments.
1981:	CB technical assignments; ( ) Chief of (Crew) Training.
1982:	CB technical assignments including Chief of (Crew) Training; (20 Apr) named as MS-1 for STS-7 (satellite deployment mission); Shuttle mission training; (Nov) STS-5 mission support (replacement Pool MS for Joe Allen); Shuttle mission training.
1983:	Shuttle mission training; (18-24 Jun) flew as MS-1, STS-7 Challenger (6 days 2 hrs 23 min); STS-7 mission debriefing; (11 Nov) named MS-1 and contingency EV-1 crewmember STS-51A (deployment mission); Shuttle mission training.
1984:	Shuttle mission training; (Feb) named MS-2/FE STS-61D (Spacelab 4 life sciences mission) dual flight assignment; Shuttle mission training; (3 Aug) Shuttle launch manifest revised and crews reassigned; STS-51A crew (including Fabian) reassigned to STS-51D (satellite deployment mission); Shuttle mission training; (Oct) STS-41G support (Family Escort); Shuttle mission training.
1985:	Shuttle mission training; (6 Mar) crew reassigned again to STS-51G; Shuttle mission training; (31 May) named MS-2/FE STS-61G (3-day Galileo Jupiter probe deployment mission) triple flight assignment; Shuttle mission training; (17-24 Jun) flew as MS-1, STS-51G Discovery (7 days 1 hr 38 mins); STS-51G mission debriefing; (Jun) STS-61D/Spacelab 4 cancelled due to manifest changes and assigned crew stood down; Fabian had already decided to leave NASA and return to the USAF; pending his recall to the USAF he was assigned to organise the JSC Payload Specialist Office; (19 Sep) NASA announced that Fabian was leaving the agency; he had been approached by the USAF Space Division to head up the Manned Spaceflight Engineer Group in Los Angeles, California, in a move to improve relations between NASA and the USAF, but had declined; (31 Dec) formally resigned from NASA.

POST-ASTRONAUT EXPERIENCE
1 Jan 1986 - 1 Jul 1987:	Director of Space, Deputy Director of Staff, Plans and Operations, USAF Headquarters, Washington, D.C.; (Jul 1987) retired from the USAF with the rank of Colonel.
Jul 1987 - 1998:	Executive Vice President, ANSERCorp (Analytical Service Inc.), Crystal City, Virginia; (1998) retired as President and Chief Executive Officer.
1998 - 2026:	Retired to Port Ludlow, Washington; independent consultant and public speaker on NASA's space programme and environmental issues.
21 May 2026:	Died in Port Ludlow, Washington, at the age of 87.

John FABIAN Space Flight Missions
Mission	Vehicle	Position	Dates DD/MM/YYYY	Duration DD:HH:MM:SS	Orbits	EVAs
STS-7	Challenger	MS-1	18/06/1983-24/06/1983	06:02:23:59	97	0
STS-51G	Discovery	MS-1	17/06/1985-24/06/1985	07:01:38:52	112	0

Missions Flown:		2	Total Flight Time:	13:04:02:51	209	0

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This profile is copyright Astro Info Service Limited, 2026.

Fabian wears a launch and entry helmet during preparations for re-entry on sts-7

John Fabian sits in one of the Mission Specialist seats aboard STS-7, wearing a launch and entry helmet (LEH) during preparations for de-orbit. Photo courtesy of NASA.

the five people aboard STS-7 in 1983 pose for the camera for a crew shot.

The crew of the historic STS-7 mission poses for the camera. (L to r) Norm Thagard (MS), Bob Crippen (CDR), Rick Hauck (PLT), Sally Ride (MS, the first American woman in space) and John Fabian (MS). Photo courtesy of NASA.

fabian sleeping aboard sts-7, his sleeping bag attached to the 'wall' with Velcro straps

Fabian gets some sleep aboard STS-7 in a sleeping bag attached to the 'wall' with Velcro straps, including the one keeping his head in place. The heavy duty eye mask was used to keep out the light while sleeping. Photo courtesy of NASA.

aboard sts-7, Fabian points to the tape in the recorder he is using

Technology in the early 1980s. Fabian holds up an audio tape recorder with mini speakers and points to the tape inside. He is pictured near the aft viewing windows, while several of the cameras used by the crew can be seen in this shot. Photo courtesy of NASA.

the seven-person crew of Fabian's second mission pose for the camera.

Fabian's second mission was STS-51G in 1985 and included two overseas Payload Specialists (PS) in the crew for the first time. (Back row l to r) Sultan bin Salman Al-Saud (PS, Saudi Arabia), Steven Nagel (MS), Fabian (MS) and Patrick Baudry (PS, France). (Front row l to r) John Creighton (PLT), Shannon Lucid (MS) and Dan Brandenstein (CDR). Photo courtesy of NASA.

fabian aboard sts-51g about to enjoy one of his meals

Fabian smiles for the camera aboard STS-51G with two meal trays showing the type of food the astronauts consumed on the early Shuttle missions. Photo courtesy of NASA.

Fabian poses at the RMS station in front of hand-written signs marking the crew's successful retrieval and deployment of satellites.

Fabian displays hand-written signs highlighting the successful deployment of three satellites by the crew during STS-51G. One of the satellites (SPARTAN) was also later recovered by the crew, hence the 'Pickup' sign. Photo courtesy of NASA.