Portrait of Frank Culbertson Courtesy of NASA

Frank Culbertson is an American astronaut who was born on May 15, 1949, in South Carolina. Before he became an astronaut, Culbertson was a Navy test pilot. He has flown over 5000 hours on 40 types of aircraft.

Culbertson became an astronaut in 1984. He has spent over 344 hours in space on two spaceflights.

Culbertson made his first spaceflight in 1990 aboard STS-38. This was a Department of Defense mission. In 1993, Culbertson flew aboard STS-51. The crew spent 10 days performing a variety of experiments for Germany.