Aaron Cohen Dies

Aaron Cohen, the former director of NASA's Johnson Space Center who helped create the space shuttle program, has died in College Station after a long fight with cancer. He was 79.

Cohen was named director of the Johnson Space Center in 1986 after the space shuttle Challenger exploded, killing teacher Christa McAuliffe and six astronauts. He told the Associated Press then that flying the shuttle safely would depend on "paying attention to detail" and he would encourage those who worked for him to do so.

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Cohen, a mechanical engineer, joined NASA in 1962 and managed the computer guidance systems for the Apollo command module and the landing module that first carried astronauts to the moon's surface. He was a leader in developing the shuttle.

Rest In Peace, Aaron.