Aaron Cohen, an emeritus professor at Texas A&M University and the former director of NASA's Johnson Space Center who helped create the space shuttle program, has died in College Station after a long fight with cancer. He was 79.
A 1952 graduate of Texas A&M, Cohen was named director of the Johnson Space Center in 1986 after the space shuttle Challenger exploded, killing teacher Christa McAuliffe and six astronauts. He told The Associated Press then that flying the shuttle safely would depend on "paying attention to detail" and he would encourage those who worked for him to do so.
Cohen was at the helm when shuttle flights resumed nearly three years later and continued to lead the center until 1993, when he returned to A&M as the H.B. Zachary Professor in the College of Engineering.
At A&M, he taught a two-semester mechanical engineering design course to seniors until his retirement in 2000, when he became professor emeritus of mechanical engineering. He received an honorary doctorate from A&M in January.
"His significant contributions have made a lasting impact on our design curriculum, faculty development and, most importantly, a generation of engineering students at Texas A&M University," said Vice Chancellor and Dean of Engineering Kem Bennett, when Cohen received the honorary degree.
After retiring, Cohen continued to live in College Station with his wife, Ruth.
"His engineering expertise and rigor were tremendous assets to our nation and NASA," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. "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."
Cohen, a mechanical engineer, joined NASA in 1962 and managed the computer guidance systems for the Apollo command module and the landing module that first carried astronauts to the moon's surface. He was a leader in developing the shuttle.
"He was the one person at the Johnson Space Center responsible for the design, development, tests and the funds -- the budget of the shuttle -- from the time it started to the time it flew," his supervisor and friend Christopher Kraft told the Houston Chronicle. "Everybody looked up to Aaron."
Cohen died Feb. 25, NASA said. His funeral and burial took place March 1 near San Antonio.
He is survived by his wife, three children and nine grandchildren. His family has requested that donations in his honor be made to the Aaron Cohen Engineering Scholarship Fund, which was established on Cohen's 60th birthday, or Hospice Brazos Valley.
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