Kennedy Leaders Celebrate 15 Years of Ongoing Space Station Work

International Space Station 15th Anniversary Celebration
Inside the Space Station Processing Facility at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida, agency leaders and guests celebrate the 15th anniversary of ongoing work aboard the station. On the podium, Chris Hummel of NASA Communications, left, moderates a discussion between center director Bob Cabana, center, and Josephine Burnett, director of Kennedy’s Exploration Research and Technology Programs. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

As NASA celebrates 15 consecutive years with humans aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana joined Josephine Burnett, director of Kennedy’s Exploration Research and Technology Programs, in a discussion of the milestone.

They spoke on Nov. 3 in the high bay of the spaceport’s Space Station Processing Facility. It was in that location that many of the key ISS elements were prepared for launch aboard the space shuttle.

Cabana commanded the STS-88 flight of the shuttle Endeavour that lifted off from Kennedy on Dec. 4, 1998. The crew carried the first American-launched element, Node 1, called “Unity.” The highlight of their 12-day shuttle flight was connecting Unity to the Zarya module launched by Russia just a few weeks earlier.

Permanent occupancy of the space station began Nov. 2, 2000, when the first expedition crew docked with the space station. American astronaut Bill Shepherd, along with Russian cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev, moved in and began activation of the space station, and scientific research has continued nonstop.

Cabana has been Kennedy’s director since 2008. During that time, many of the station elements processed at the Florida spaceport were launched aboard the space shuttle.

Burnett’s 28-year career at Kennedy included several roles in overseeing preparation and processing of space station hardware. In 1996, she was assigned to the Space Station Hardware Integration Office, supporting the test and checkout of the Canadian Space Station Remote Manipulator System in Brampton, Ontario, and the Canadian portion of the Multi Element Integrated Test.

In 2000, Burnett joined the ISS/Payload Processing Project as chief of the Future Missions and International Partner Division. She was named the director of International Space Station and Spacecraft Processing at Kennedy in 2010. In this role, Burnett was responsible for all ground processing of space station elements from around the world being prepared to fly aboard the space shuttle.

Watch as Cabana and Burnett recall their experiences in supporting construction of the International Space Station and the strategic value of the orbiting laboratory.