Curbeam, Robert Lee, Jr (1962– )

US astronaut. His shuttle flights include preparations for the International Space Station (ISS). On the August 1997 flight of Discovery he helped test technology for the ISS. In February 2001, he flew with the Atlantis mission to deliver and attach the Destiny science laboratory module, the centrepiece of the ISS. In the spring of 2002 he served as deputy associate administrator of safety and mission assurance at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC. He was assigned to a 2004 shuttle flight to the ISS which was cancelled after the Columbia disaster in Febuary 2003. Curbeam was selected as an astronaut in 1994.