CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is under new leadership. Robert Cabana assumed the role as the center's tenth director Oct. 26.

Media are invited to an informal Q-and-A session with Cabana at Kennedy's News Center on Friday, Oct. 31, at 10:30 a.m. EDT. This session is not open to new media accreditation.

Cabana, who is a former space shuttle astronaut, came to Kennedy from NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi where he was director for the past year. He succeeds William W. Parsons who left the agency Oct. 11 to pursue opportunities in the private sector.

A native of Minnesota, Cabana graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics and was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps. Cabana is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School and has logged over 7,000 hours in 36 different aircraft.

After his selection as an astronaut candidate in June of 1985, Cabana completed his training in 1986. He has flown four shuttle missions, serving as the pilot of Discovery on STS-41 in October 1990, the pilot of Discovery on STS-53 in December 1992, the commander of Columbia on STS-65 in July 1994, and the commander of Endeavour on STS-88, which was the first International Space Station assembly flight, in December 1998.

Before being named the director at Stennis in October 2007, Cabana served as deputy director of Johnson. In addition, Cabana has worked as chief of NASA's Astronaut Office, manager of international operations of International Space Station Program, director of NASA's Human Space Flight Program in Russia, deputy director of the International Space Station Program, and director of Flight Crew Operations.

For information about NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/kennedy