Robert L. (Bob) Spann passed away at his home on Monday, June 12, 2017.  Bob was born July 12, 1935 in Moulton, Texas to Lon and Anna Spann.  He is survived by his brother, Roy Spann, his son and daughter, Michael and Barbara Spann, his grandchildren Spyder Spann and Samantha McCormick, and his long time companion Tauni Bryan.

Bob attended Milby HS in Houston and the University of Texas at Austin.  After graduating with a BS in Aeronautical Engineering in 1958, he spent 5 years working at North American Aviation before joining NASA in 1963.  Over his 53 year career with NASA, Bob participated in the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz, MIR, Space Shuttle, SpaceLab and International Space Station programs.  Some of his career highlights include space suit design and testing including trials in zero-gravity aircraft,  life support systems design, flight mission operations and Astronaut training, Apollo 1 tragedy forensic assessment team, Apollo 13 CO2 removal canister solution team, and the Challenger tragedy assessment team.

Bob maintained strong ties to the Central Texas (Shiner/Mouton area) Czech community all his life and was an active participant in many clubs and groups in the Clear Lake area.  He always enjoyed the outdoors – skiing, sailing, hiking and biking.  He was a Scoutmaster with the Boy Scouts for many years.  Bob satisfied his interests in photography and art by travelling broadly, collecting art and artifacts wherever he went.

The family would like to thank all the people in Bob’s life for their friendship and caring over the years.