Mario Runco

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Mario Runco
Mario Runco
Country: United States
Organization: NASA
selected on June 5, 1987
( 12th NASA Group )
Calls: 3 space flights
Start of the
first space flight: 		November 25, 1991
Landing of the
last space flight: 		May 29, 1996
Time in space: 22d 23h 8min
EVA inserts: 1
EVA total duration: 4h 28min
retired on June 27, 2002
Space flights

Mario "Trooper" Runco Jr. (born January 26, 1952 in the Bronx , New York ) is a former American astronaut .

Runco received a BA in Earth and Planetary Sciences from the City College of New York in 1974 and a Masters in Atmospheric Physics from Rutgers University in 1976 . In 1999 he received an honorary doctorate from the City College of New York.

From 1976 he worked for a year as a research hydrologist for the United States Geological Survey on Long Island . In 1977 he went to the New Jersey Police Department . before joining the United States Navy in June 1978 . In September 1978, he joined the Navy's Oceanographic and Atmospheric Research Laboratory in Monterey . From April 1981 to December 1983 he was stationed as a meteorologist on the USS Nassau . From January 1984 to December 1985 he was an instructor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey. He then served as a commanding officer on ships in the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean, performing hydrographic and oceanographic observations.

Astronaut activity

In June 1987, Runco was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate. He was involved in the development of an emergency exit for space shuttles, in the Software Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL) in software tests, at the Kennedy Space Center as a member of the support teams and as a liaison officer ( CAPCOM ). He is currently working as an Earth and Planetary Scientist in the program for the International Space Station and the manned lunar station.

STS-44

On November 24, 1991 Runco started as a mission specialist with the space shuttle Atlantis for the mission STS-44 . It was a mission for the US Department of Defense . The non-secret payload contained, among other military experiments, a DSP satellite and its upper stage engine to lift the satellite into higher orbit.

STS-54

Harbaugh (bottom) and Runco (top) on an EVA during STS-54

With the space shuttle Endeavor , Runco started as a mission specialist on January 13, 1993 for the STS-54 mission . The main objectives of this mission were the deployment of the $ 200 million Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-F) and experiments in X-ray astronomy with the Diffuse X-ray Spectrometer (DXS).

STS-77

As a mission specialist, Runco flew into space on May 19, 1996 as part of the STS-77 mission with the space shuttle Endeavor . This was the fifth mission of the Spacehab commercial module. A dozen experiments from the fields of biology , electrical engineering and agriculture were carried out there. Furthermore, the SPARTAN platform was suspended, which in turn carried the so-called Inflatable Antenna Experiment (IAE). The $ 14 million IAE was an aluminum-coated plastic shell that was shaped into its actual shape - an antenna dish - using nitrogen gas. The ten-day operation was the first flight to be managed from takeoff to landing from the new Consolidated Control Center (CCC) in Houston.

Private

Mario Runco is married and has two children.

See also

Web links

Commons : Mario Runco  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Runco, Mario
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Runco, Mario junior (full name); Runco, Trooper junior (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American astronaut
DATE OF BIRTH January 26, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Bronx , New York