David Beaman's story - WHNT News 19
May 27, 2026 — On the day of NASA's Artemis II launch in April, David Beaman should have been at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Beaman, a program manager for NASA's space launch program, has overseen 70 shuttle missions and spent the last several years working on Artemis II. Instead, he was home in Alabama to be with his wife who had fallen and broken her hip.
Beaman spent the day with his wife in the hospital and then returned home for a good night's rest. That's when he knew something wasn't right.
“I woke up a little later, and I got up to go to the restroom and fell,” Beaman told WHNT News 19. “The left side wasn't working. I laid there for about 15 seconds, and I was able to get up and walk to the bathroom.”
The same thing happened again a few hours later, only this time Beaman couldn't get up. He called 911 for help. Beaman was having a stroke.
After spending time in the ICU, Beaman came to Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital of North Alabama, where his wife was also recovering from a hip fracture. On April 1, when Beaman should have been in Florida for the Artemis II launch, he was working through intensive therapy to learn how to walk again. However, he still wanted to be connected to his team at NASA on the historic day.
“They [Encompass Health North Alabama] allowed my son to come in early to set up our computer system so I could tie into the Command Center at Kennedy Space Center,” Beaman said. “It's not the way I expected to see it, but you deal with the situation you have, and it was wonderful here. The people were so supportive. After I came out, they had NASA shirts on, balloons and moon pies and stuff like that. It was really great.”
Beaman is determined to return to work. He has this advice as he has navigated stroke recovery and learned to have patience.
“You have to wait,” he said. “Your body and your mind are going to respond when they're ready.”