Mark Bowman

Mark Bowman is the Soyuz spacecraft systems and crew operations lead, responsible for maintaining engineering knowledge of Russian spacecraft and launch vehicles to ensure the safety of U.S. astronauts during Soyuz flight operations. He serves on the NASA engineering team that is evaluating parachute systems on the Boeing and Space-X crewed vehicles. This prestigious flight control position, once reserved only for astronauts, is responsible for all voice communication with the astronauts in space. Bowman’s career has included positions as NASA’s deputy director of human space flight programs in Russia and as an attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Russia. Prior to that, he spent nearly 20 years developing hardware for medical research and crew health support aboard the space shuttle Mir Station and the International Space Station. He has spent more than six hours weightless in nearly 20 flights aboard NASA’s zero-G research aircraft. Bowman fills multiple roles at the NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center and was chosen as a “CapCom” in Mission Control. He speaks fluent Spanish and Russian. He was the 2014 Alumni Achievement Award recipient and is an alumni ambassador. He has been a member of the Alumni Leadership Council since 2016. Bowman earned a BS in Liberal Arts, Excelsior College, and MS in Technical Management, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.