Open mobile menu

Kimbrough Named Honorary Georgia Tech Letterwinner

THE FLATS – Georgia Tech alumnus and NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough (Col., U.S. Army, Ret.) has been named an honorary GT letterwinner, Tech athletics announced on Friday. Kimbrough was presented an official Georgia Tech letterwinner’s jacket by director of athletics Todd Stansbury during an online ceremony.

An Atlanta native, Kimbrough earned a master’s degree in operations research from Georgia Tech in 1998. He attended the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. as an undergraduate, where he was four-year baseball student-athlete and team captain for the Black Knights as a senior in 1989. As a member of the U.S. Army, he served as a helicopter pilot in the first Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm) in 1991 and later served as a professor at West Point.

VIDEO: Commander Shane Kimbrough becomes an honorary Georgia Tech letterwinner

Kimbrough joined NASA in 2000 and completed his first space flight in 2008. In 2016, he returned to space as part of Expedition 49/50 to the International Space Station, serving as Commander of the ISS for nearly six months. During his first ISS expedition, he sent a good luck message to Georgia Tech football prior to its game versus Virginia in 2016 and also proudly displayed a “Give ‘Em Hell Tech” flag from the Ramblin’ Wreck at the ISS, which he officially returned to the Institute during an on-field ceremony at halftime of Tech football’s 2017 contest versus Wake Forest.

In July, NASA announced that Kimbrough will return to the ISS as part of SpaceX Crew-2, serving as spacecraft commander. The Crew-2 astronauts are targeted to launch in the spring and expected to remain aboard the ISS for approximately six months.

Commander Shane Kimbrough

Col. U.S. Army (Ret.)/NASA Astronaut/Honorary Georgia Tech Letterwinner

The online ceremony awarding Kimbrough with his GT letterwinner’s jacket included comments from Kimbrough, Stansbury, former Georgia Tech football coach Bill Curry, Letterwinners Club executive director Lucius Sanford and Bobby Dodd Foundation chairman and Tech athletics consultant Jim Terry.

In addition to his letterwinner’s jacket, Kimbrough was also presented with a number of Yellow Jackets apparel items that he may be able to take to the ISS, space permitting, including a customized Georgia Tech baseball jersey (bearing his own collegiate jersey number, No. 22) and a pair of official GT/adidas football gloves.

Alexander-Tharpe Fund

The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the A-T Fund’s Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes, and the Support The Swarm Fund, created to give fans an opportunity to help Georgia Tech athletics maintain its recent momentum through the financial challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic! To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.  

For the latest information on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, follow us on Twitter (@GTAthletics), Facebook, Instagram or visit us at www.ramblinwreck.com.

RELATED HEADLINES

Athletics PHOTO GALLERY: Fanning Center Groundbreaking

Eldon Lindsay and Danny Karnik photos

PHOTO GALLERY: Fanning Center Groundbreaking
Athletics Jackets Honored at Peach of an Athlete Role Model Banquet

Georgia Tech’s Bella D’Amico, Dylan Leonard and Camille Trotman recognized

Jackets Honored at Peach of an Athlete Role Model Banquet
Athletics Georgia Tech Breaks Ground on Fanning Center

New student-athlete performance center set to open in 2026

Georgia Tech Breaks Ground on Fanning Center
Partner of Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Legends Partner of Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Partner of Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Partner of Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets