Robert Salas is a graduate of the US Air Force Academy. He served seven years on active duty. He worked as a weapons controller, flew target drones, commanded intercontinental ballistic missiles as a launch officer, and worked as an Air Force missile propulsion engineer on the Titan III program. From 1971 to 1973, he worked as a safety and reliability engineer for Martin Marietta Aerospace and Rockwell International on space shuttle design proposals. From 1974 until his retirement in 1995, he worked for the Federal Aviation Administration. In 2022, he testified at the Brazilian Senate's public hearing on UFOs.