![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/screenshot_2026-05-24_at_16.26.43.png\")
Fabian (L) was part of the seven-member crew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery during the mission that carried Prince Sultan into orbit. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
\n\tRIYADH:\u00a0Former NASA astronaut John Fabian, who flew alongside Prince Sultan bin Salman on the landmark STS-51-G mission in 1985, has died at the age of 87.<\/p>\n
\n\tFabian was part of the seven-member crew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery during the mission that carried Prince Sultan into orbit, the first time an Arab, Muslim and Saudi citizen had traveled to space.<\/p>\n
\n\tLaunched on June 17, 1985, the mission lasted for seven days and deployed several communications satellites, including Arabsat-1B for the Arab Satellite Communications Organization.<\/p>\n
\n\tPrince Sultan bin Salman, special adviser to King Salman and chairman of the board of trustees of the nonprofit Heritage Foundation, described Fabian as a close friend and a key figure during the mission.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cHe was a scientist. He was a first-class mission mate, who earned the respect of all of us.\u201d Prince Sultan told Arab News.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cHe was the person assigned to support us, myself and Patrick Baudry, as a payload specialist,\u201d he added, referring to French astronaut Baudry, who was also part of the mission crew.<\/p>\n
Fabian (L) was part of the seven-member crew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery during the mission that carried Prince Sultan into orbit. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
\n\tPrince Sultan said Fabian remained active and engaged in scientific work throughout his life.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWith his passing, it is an era for the generation of American scientists,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cHe was working until the last of his life, and we had a friendship that will last forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tPrince Sultan said that he had spoken with Fabian\u2019s wife, Donna, to offer his condolences.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI spoke to Donna, and I gave her and the family my condolences,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt is a personal loss of a friend who loved our country and has always been honorable and intelligent. I learned a lot from him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThe relationship between Fabian and Saudi Arabia continued after the mission, with the astronaut visiting the Kingdom often.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cJohn visited Saudi Arabia on several occasions, the first of which was in 1986 after the space mission,\u201d Prince Sultan said.<\/p>\n
\n\tDuring those visits, Fabian and fellow crew members met Saudi leaders and were honored by the Kingdom.<\/p>\n
\n\tFabian received the King Abdulaziz Medal, in addition to several international distinctions.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/screenshot_2026-05-24_at_16.26.33.png\")
Fabian and fellow crew members met Saudi leaders and were honored by the Kingdom. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
\n\tBorn in Goose Creek, Texas, in 1939, Fabian earned a degree in mechanical engineering, a master\u2019s degree in aerospace engineering, and a doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics before joining the US Air Force.<\/p>\n
\n\tHe later joined NASA\u2019s astronaut program in 1978, where he later worked extensively on satellite deployment and retrieval operations during the early years of the space shuttle program.<\/p>\n
\n\tFabian first traveled to space aboard STS-7 in 1983 before returning on STS-51-G two years later. Over the two missions, he spent more than 316 hours in space.<\/p>\n
\n\tHe was associated with one of the Kingdom\u2019s defining scientific milestones that introduced a generation to the possibilities of space exploration and carried the first Saudi astronaut into orbit.<\/p>\n
\n\tFabian is the second member of the STS-51-G crew to die after fellow astronaut Steven Nagel, who died in 2014.<\/p>\n
\n\tNagel spent 32 years with NASA before retiring in 2011. He also participated in the Saudi International Space and Aeronautics Technology Conference and the 25th Planetary Congress of the Association of Space Explorers in Riyadh, held under the patronage of the late King Abdullah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RIYADH:\u00a0Former NASA astronaut John Fabian, who flew alongside Prince Sultan bin Salman on the landmark STS-51-G mission in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":692685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[49,48,66,306],"class_list":["post-692684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=692684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/692684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/692685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=692684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=692684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=692684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}