March 5, 1962 Robert Lee Curbeam, Jr., former NASA astronaut, was born in Baltimore, Maryland. Curbeam earned his Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering from the United States Naval Academy in 1984 and his Master of Science degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1990. Curbeam was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to train as an astronaut in 1994. After training, he participated in three space flights, STS-85 from August 7 to 19, 1997, STS-98 from February 7 to 20, 2001, and STS-116 from December 9 to 22, 2006. In total, he logged over 901 hours in space. Curbeam left NASA in 2007 and is currently Vice President, Mission Assurance, Quality and Six Sigma at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems.
