NASA Pioneer Aaron Cohen Dies

WASHINGTON -- Spaceflight pioneer Aaron Cohen, a former director of
NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, died Thursday, Feb. 25, after
a lengthy illness. He was 79.

Cohen had a 33-year career with NASA. He was a steady hand at the helm
of Johnson as NASA recovered from the shuttle Challenger tragedy and
returned the space shuttle to flight. Cohen left the agency in 1993
to accept an appointment as a professor at his alma mater, Texas A&M
University. At the time, he was serving as acting deputy
administrator at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

"Aaron Cohen was one of my early mentors here in NASA and he was
instrumental in the success of numerous pivotal achievements in human
space flight." said NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden from
Headquarters in Washington. "His engineering expertise and rigor were
tremendous assets to our nation and NASA. Aaron provided the critical
and calm guidance needed at the Johnson Space Center to successfully
recover from the Challenger accident and return the space shuttle to
flight. We will miss him as a colleague, mentor, and a friend. Our
hearts go out to his wife, Ruth, and the rest of his family."

Cohen joined NASA in 1962 and served in key leadership roles critical
to the success of the flights and lunar landings of the Apollo
Program. From 1969 to 1972, Cohen was the manager for the Apollo
Command and Service Modules. He oversaw the design, development,
production and test flights of the space shuttles as manager of
NASA's Space Shuttle Orbiter Project Office from 1972 to 1982. After
serving as Director of Engineering at Johnson for several years, he
was named director of the center in 1986, serving in that post until
1993.

"Aaron's expertise was critical to NASA's greatest achievements, and
his integrity, talent and passion made it a privilege to work with
him," said Mike Coats, Director of the Johnson Space Center. "He will
be missed and long remembered by his many friends here at JSC."

Cohen's many honors include the highest award given for federal
executives, the Presidential Rank of Distinguished Executive, with
which he was received in 1982 and 1988. He was presented NASA's
highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal, three times. Cohen
was a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of
the American Astronautical Society and the American Institute of
Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was a distinguished alumnus of Texas
A&M, from which he earned a bachelor's in Mechanical Engineering in
1952. He earned a master's in Applied Mathematics from Stevens
Institute of Technology in 1958. He also was a recipient of honorary
doctorates from Stevens Institute and from the University of
Houston-Clear Lake.

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Source: NASA