Astronauts Robert D. Cabana and Bryan D. O'Connor along with former astronauts John E. Blaha and Loren J. Shriver will be added to an elite list of Astronaut Hall of Fame members that includes Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Jim Lovell, Sally Ride and John Young.

Image at right: Robert Cabana, John C. Stennis Space Center Director.
Image Credit: NASA/SSC

A public ceremony to commemorate the veteran astronauts will be held on May 3 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida and will be broadcast live on NASA TV at 3 p.m. EDT.

The 2008 inductees were selected by a committee of former NASA officials and flight controllers, journalists, historians and Hall of Fame astronauts.

Image at right: Bryan O'Connor is NASA's Chief of Safety and Mission Assurance.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

With four space shuttle missions to his credit, Cabana was the commander of the first International Space Station assembly mission. Currently, he is the director of NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

O'Connor was shuttle pilot on mission STS-61B and commander of STS-40, the first shuttle mission dedicated to life science studies. He now serves NASA as the Chief, Safety and Mission Assurance with responsibility for the safety, reliability, maintainability and quality assurance of all NASA programs.

Over the span of 17 years, Blaha flew on five space shuttle missions and set the American men's space record for time in space during his four months on orbit. Blaha retired from NASA in 1997 and is active in private industry.

Image at right: John E. Blaha, NASA astronaut, veteran of space shuttle missions STS-29, STS-33, STS-43 and STS-58. In 1996, he flew aboard STS-79 to the Mir Space Station where he served as a Board Engineer 2 for 4 months before returning to earth aboard STS-81.
Image Credit: NASA

Shriver, a veteran of three shuttle flights, commanded the STS-31 mission to deploy the Hubble Space Telescope and served at NASA's Kennedy Space Center as the Launch and Payload Processing deputy director from 1997 to 2000.

This esteemed assembly is the seventh group of space shuttle astronauts named to the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame and brings the total number of inductees to 70.

Image at right: Loren J. Shriver, NASA astronaut who flew on STS-51C in 1985, STS-31 in 1990, and STS-46 in 1992, and has logged over 386 hours in space. In October 1992, he was assigned as Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office.
Image Credit: NASA