After graduating from State University of New York College at Oneonta in 1982, he joined the Air Force, becoming a Second Lieutenant in 1984.

[1] His description of coming back to Earth in a Soyuz capsule was "like going over Niagara Falls in a barrel (that's on fire) followed by a high speed crash".

He is also the vice president of Spaceship Earth Grants, whose mission is to make space more accessible through human spaceflight and parabolic flight awards to individual applicants.

Upon completion, he attended Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) at Vance AFB, Oklahoma and earned his wings in 1985.

From August 1990 through March 1991, he deployed to Southwest Asia in support of Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm where he flew combat missions in the F-16.

Following the completion of two years of training and evaluation, he was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Station and Shuttle Operations Branches.

[1] In April 2006, Garan became an aquanaut through his participation in the joint NASA-National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NEEMO 9 (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) project, an exploration research mission held in Aquarius, the world's only undersea research laboratory.

[1] The Soyuz TMA-21 "Gagarin" descent module is in permanent exhibition at the German Titov Museum in Polkovnikovo, Altai Kray, Siberia.

Before his flight aboard Discovery in 2008, Garan asked the religious women of a Carmelite community in New Caney, Texas, for their prayers and told them he could take an item into space for them.

[14] Garan is the founder of the Manna Energy Foundation, which is assisting the villages of Rwanda to make potable water.

[16] On February 23, 2016, World View Enterprises has announced that Ron Garan will be chief pilot for current robotic flight operations and upcoming human spaceflights via balloon.