Gibson returned to the United States and an assignment as an F-14A instructor pilot with Fighter Squadron 124 (VF-124) at Naval Air Station Miramar.

Gibson served as Chief of the Astronaut Office (December 1992 to September 1994) and as Deputy Director, Flight Crew Operations (March–November 1996).

The flight accomplished the deployment of two Hughes 376 communications satellites which later failed to reach desired geosynchronous orbits due to upper-stage rocket failures.

The STS 41-B mission marked the first checkout of the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU), and Manipulator Foot Restraint (MFR), with Bruce McCandless II and Bob Stewart performing two EVAs (spacewalks).

The German Shuttle Pallet Satellite (SPAS), Remote Manipulator System (RMS), six "Getaway Specials", and materials processing experiments were included on the mission.

During the six-day flight, the crew deployed the SATCOM Ku satellite and conducted experiments in astrophysics and materials processing.

[1] As the commander of STS-27, Gibson and his five-man crew launched from the Kennedy Space Center on December 2, 1988, aboard the Orbiter Atlantis.

After 68 orbits of the Earth the mission concluded with a dry lakebed landing on Runway 17 at Edwards Air Force Base on December 6, 1988.

The mission was a cooperative venture between the United States and Japan, and included the first Japanese astronaut, Mamoru Mohri, and the first African-American woman, Mae Jemison, in the crew.

During the eight-day flight, the crew focused on life science and materials processing experiments in over forty investigations in the Spacelab laboratory, as well as scientific and engineering tests performed aboard the Orbiter Endeavour.

It also carried a Spacelab module in the payload bay in which the crew performed various life sciences experiments and data collections.

When the hatch separating the two modules was opened, Gibson and Vladimir Dezhurov shook hands, symbolizing the newly-found cooperation between the United States of America and the Russian Federation.

In 2006, as reported by NASA Watch, Gibson was forced to retire as mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration for commercial airline pilots.

[9] In 1998, Gibson flying the Hawker Sea Fury "Riff-Raff" won the Unlimited Class in the Inaugural Running of the EAA AirVenture Cup Race.

[10] Beginning in 2009, Gibson flew as a demonstration pilot for Hawker Beechcraft Corporation to showcase the Premier 1A light business jet across the United States and overseas.

Gibson has stated that his interest in manned flight and his career as a test pilot and astronaut has its origin in his building of model aircraft as a youth.

Gibson remains an avid radio controlled model hobbyist and is reportedly constructing a flyable version of the experimental vertical take off and landing Convair XFY-1 Pogo of the 1950s.