Yao-Kuei Yang passed away on November 5, 2024 in Houston, Texas at the age of 71, surrounded by loved ones.

Yao was born in Kaohsiung, Taiwan on January 6, 1953 as the second child of Chao-Song Yang and Su-Yun Cheng. He spent much of his childhood in the village of Xinyuan, Pingtung County. He graduated from Kaohsiung Municipal Senior High School in 1972 and received his bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1976 from National Cheng Kung University in Tainan. Afterwards, he completed his national military service requirement and worked at the China Steel Corporation.

In 1979, Yao came to the U.S. for graduate studies. He completed a Master of Mechanical Engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1981. He then worked at the Singer Corporation in Silver Spring, Maryland, designing nuclear power plant control room simulators while earning a Master of Science from the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. In 1985, he started a PhD program at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. While working toward his doctorate, he returned to Taiwan the following year to marry Chiung-Wen Hsu, his beloved wife. In 1987, they celebrated the birth of their daughter Katy in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. A year later, he completed his Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, became a naturalized US citizen and began his career as a NASA engineer with Johnson Space Center. In 1990, Yao and Chiung welcomed the arrival of their son, Danny, in Houston, Texas.

Yao had a long career of over 30 years with NASA contractors Lockheed Martin, United Technologies, and Jacobs Technology. His primary focus was developing and refining high-fidelity spacecraft simulations, including the International Space Station and its Remote Manipulator System (robotic arm). He received a number of awards recognizing his contributions to human space flight programs throughout his career, including the NASA Space Flight Awareness Honoree Award, one of the highest employee awards for dedication to quality work and flight safety.

Yao enjoyed tending to his garden, reading kung fu novels, and taking his family on road trips to admire the natural beauty of U.S. state and national parks. He was dedicated to his family here in the U.S. and in Taiwan as well as to Buddhist spiritual practices and teachings. After retiring in 2019, he remained active in the local senior community, picking up new hobbies like watercolor painting, line dancing, and qigong. Chiung and Yao traveled the world together, and frequently returned to Taiwan. He was especially devoted to the preservation of his family’s legacy in Xinyuan and was able to realize his dream of rebuilding his family’s ancestral home in 2023.

He is survived by his wife of nearly 38 years, Chiung-Wen, his children Katy and Danny, his brothers Don-Lin, Yao-Ming, Shun-Chin, and his sister Hui-Chen, among numerous other family and friends.

A memorial service will be held at 10:00 am on Monday, November 11, 2024, at the Webster location of Crowder Funeral Home, 111 East Medical Center Boulevard. Webster, TX 77598. Following the memorial, there will be a reception at DiMassi’s Mediterranean Buffet, 19443 Gulf Fwy, Webster, TX 77598.