Portrait of Ken Cameron Courtesy of NASA

Ken Cameron is an American astronaut who was born on November 29, 1949 in Ohio. Before he became an astronaut, he served as a Marine in the Vietnam War.

Cameron became an astronaut in 1985. He has made three space missions spending over 311 hours in space.

Cameron was the pilot of STS-37 in April 1991. During this mission, the crew deployed the Gamma Ray Observatory into Earth orbit. Gamma rays are waves of intense light that travel throughout the universe. In 1993, he commanded STS-56. This mission studied the effect of solar activity on the Earth's climate.

In 1995, Cameron commanded STS-74. This was NASA's second Space Shuttle to rendezvous with the Russian Mir Space Station.