James Oberg spent 22 years as a space engineer at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX where he specialized in NASA space shuttle operations for orbital rendezvous. In honor of his pioneering work, on developing and documenting these space shuttle rendezvous techniques, he was named by the NASA-Area "Association of Technical Societies" as their 1984 "Technical Person of the Year". In 1997 he received the "Sustained Superior Performance" award for designing the complex first Space Station assembly mission.
In support of NASA's spaceflight operations he has written books on Rendezvous Flight Procedures, on Mission Control Center console operations, and on the history of orbital rendezvous. He provides expert assessment and forecasts of Russian space industrial and technological elements for corporate and government clients.