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Throughout his career, Mr. Vangen contributed to numerous Spacelab missions, beginning with STS-9 (Spacelab-1) and continuing through the final payload missions of the Space Shuttle era.
In 1993, Mr. Vangen was selected as an Alternate Payload Specialist (APS) astronaut for the STS-67 Astro-2 mission, which launched in March 1995. He became the first and only KSC employee to be selected and trained as a Payload Specialist astronaut, participating in crew training at Johnson Space Center (JSC) and payload training at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).
From 2003 to 2008, he was the Chief Operating Officer for the Space Life Sciences Laboratory (SLSL), a world-class, multi-disciplinary laboratory operated jointly by NASA and the State of Florida. In 2008, Mr. Vangen was appointed Deputy Project Manager for the Lunar Surface Systems Office at JSC, supporting the Constellation lunar program. After 2011, Mr. Vangen participated in various advanced study teams focused on future lunar and Mars exploration missions, including the Human Spaceflight Architecture Team (HAT). He also served as NASA’s lead representative to the Technology Working Group of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG). He currently serves as Project Lead and President of the Astro Restoration Project (ARP), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. ARP is dedicated to restoring the Space Shuttle’s Spacelab Astro-1 (STS-35) and Astro-2 (STS-67) ultraviolet astronomy payloads for public display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.