Bidspirit auction | Space Shuttle Astronaut Ken Cockrell

Space Shuttle Astronaut Ken Cockrell signed NASA Space Shuttle STS-80 Launch FDC. Kenneth Dale Taco Cockrell (born April 9, 1950) is a retired American Space Shuttle Astronaut, engineer and a veteran of five Space Shuttle missions. He served as Chief of the Space Shuttle Astronaut Office from 1997 to 1998. Selected by NASA in January 1990, Cockrell became an Space Shuttle Astronaut in July 1991. His technical assignments to date include: duties in the Space Shuttle Astronaut Office Operations Development Branch, working on landing, rollout, tires and brakes issues; CAPCOM in Mission Control for ascent and entry; Space Shuttle Astronaut Office representative for Flight Data File, the numerous books of procedures carried aboard Shuttle flights. He also served as Assistant to the Chief of the Space Shuttle Astronaut Office for Shuttle operations and hardware, Chief of the Space Shuttle Astronaut Office Operations Development Branch, and Chief of the Space Shuttle Astronaut Office. He served one year as Director of Operations, Russia, in Star City, Russia. He served as the liaison between the Space Shuttle Astronaut Office and the training organization at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City. Cockrell is currently the Assistant Director, Flight Crew Operations, for aircraft operations. In addition, he serves as an instructor pilot in the T-38 airplane. A veteran of five space flights, Cockrell has logged over 1,560 hours in space. He served as a mission specialist on STS-56 (April 8-17, 1993), was the pilot on STS-69 (September 7-18, 1995), and was the mission commander on STS-80 (November 19 to December 7, 1996), STS-98 (February 7-20, 2001), and STS-111 (June 5-19, 2002). Cockrell was reassigned in February 2006 to Flight Crew Operations' Aircraft Operations Division (AOD) at Ellington Field, as the WB-57 High Altitude Research Program Manager. He manages NASA's two WB-57F research airplanes and serves as pilot for research flights. In addition, he is a T-38 Instructor Pilot for Space Shuttle Astronaut flight training. Good condition Est.