John McCreary Fabian
John McCreary Fabian was an American Air Force officer, engineer, astronaut, and later aerospace executive. Selected in NASA Astronaut Group 8 in 1978, he brought Air Force engineering, flight, and academic experience into the first shuttle-specialist astronaut class.
- Born
- January 28, 1939
- Died
- May 21, 2026
- Birthplace
- Baytown, Texas,United States
Flights
2
Spacewalks
0
EVA time
N/A
In space
13 days, 4 hours, 2 minutes
Bio
Before NASA, Fabian earned engineering degrees, flew KC-135 aircraft, served in Southeast Asia, and taught aeronautics at the United States Air Force Academy. At NASA he worked heavily with satellite deployment and retrieval systems, including the Canadian-built robotic arm.
Fabian flew first on STS-7 in 1983, the Challenger mission that carried Sally Ride and demonstrated early SPAS-1 free-flying payload operations. He was part of the first five-person shuttle crew and one of the first Group 8 astronauts to fly.
His second mission was STS-51-G in 1985 aboard Discovery. The international crew deployed communications satellites for Mexico, the Arab League, and AT&T and used the robotic arm to deploy and retrieve the SPARTAN astronomy payload.
Fabian left NASA for senior Air Force space operations leadership and later led Analytic Services. His career ties shuttle payload operations to broader Air Force and civil space policy work.