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Space · astronaut

Frank L. Culbertson Jr.

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION AMERICAN RETIRED
Career
Time in space
143 d 14 h
Spacewalks
1
5 h 5 m outside
Flights
3
3 landings
Status
Retired
Nationality
American
Born
15 May 1949
First flight
15 Nov 1990
Most recent flight
10 Aug 2001
Type
Government
Biography

Frank Lee Culbertson Jr. is an American former naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aerospace engineer, and NASA astronaut. He served as the Commander of the International Space Station for almost four months in 2001 and was the only American not on Earth when the September 11 attacks occurred. He is currently President of the Space Systems Group at Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. Mr. Culbertson is responsible for the execution, business development and financial performance of the company’s human spaceflight, science, commercial communications, and national security satellite activities, as well as technical services to various government customers. These include some of Northrop Grumman's largest and most important programs such as NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) initiatives to the International Space Station (ISS) as well as various national security-related programs.

Flight log

Flights

3 TOTAL
No.FlightDate
03Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-10510 Aug 2001
02Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-5112 Sept 1993
01Space Shuttle Atlantis / OV-104 | STS-3815 Nov 1990
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Source The Space Devs — Launch Library 2 Last checked 29 Sept 2026
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