Kevin Ford

Col. Kevin A. Ford, USAF (Ret.), Ph.D., serves as the technical advisor for the International Space Station Advisory Committee since April 2020. He had previously served as the Astronaut Office crew representative in 2014-2016. Ford was selected as a NASA shuttle pilot astronaut in the class of 2000. He served as the NASA director of operations in Star City, Russia, from January to December 2004. From 2005, he worked various technical assignments, including the Shuttle Cockpit Avionics Upgrade program, shuttle landing and rollout procedures and training, and Space Launch Initiative early studies and development. He served as shuttle capsule communicator for eight flights, as well as capcom for space station stage operations. He was the NASA Astronaut Office Soyuz representative for international crew training and certification from 2014 to 2016. He flew as the shuttle pilot (PLT) for STS-128 in August 2009, and as flight engineer 2 for Soyuz TMA-06M, which launched Oct. 23, 2012, and landed March 16, 2013. He served as flight engineer for Expedition 33, and commander of Expedition 34. Other piloting experience includes more than 7,000 hours of military and civilian flying. He holds an airline transport pilot rating, with FAA certifications for airplane, helicopter, glider, and lighter-than-air balloon. He is a distinguished graduate of the USAF Test Pilot School and flew as a United Airlines 757/767 pilot from 2018-2022. Dr. Ford earned his Ph.D. in astronautical engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology in 1997 (with dissertation in attitude control and rapid reorientations of flexible spacecraft), his M.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Florida, and his B.S. in aerospace engineering from the University of Notre Dame.