O’Connor has flown over 5,000 hours in over 40 types of aircraft. O’Connor was pilot on STS-61B in 1985. At the time, this flight carried the heaviest payload weight to orbit by the Space Shuttle and was the first to deploy four satellites. Then in 1991, O’Connor commanded STS-40, the first Space shuttle mission dedicated totally to life science studies. With these two missions, he has 386 hours in space covering nearly six million miles in 253 orbits of the earth.
In 1992, O’Connor retired from the Marine Corps to become the NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Space Flight. Then in late summer 1992, he was assigned as leader of the negotiating team that traveled to Moscow to establish the framework for what subsequently became the Shuttle/MIR program.
In March 1993 O’Connor was assigned as Director, Space Station Redesign. He and his 50 person team of engineers, managers, and International Partners developed, then recommended substantial vehicle and program restructure strategies which led to the International Space Station Program. In September, he was named Acting Space Station Program Director, and in April 1994, he was assigned as Director, Space Shuttle Program.
In June 2002, Mr. O’Connor was named Associate Administrator, Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA), at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC. In August 2004, Mr. O’Connor’s title changed to Chief, Safety and Mission Assurance. His office has functional responsibility for the safety, reliability, maintainability and quality assurance of all NASA programs.
