Date of Birth: Dec. 5, 1949
Age: 75
Bruce Edward Melnick is a former American astronaut and retired United States Coast Guard officer. Following retirement from NASA and the Coast Guard, he entered the aerospace industry. He served as a Vice President with the Boeing Co.'s Integrated Defense Systems group, in charge of Boeing's Florida operations at the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Melnick retired in 2008 and currently resides on Merritt Island, Florida.
STS-49 was the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. The primary goal of its nine-day mission was to retrieve an Intelsat VI satellite (Intelsat 603, which failed to leave low earth orbit two years before), attach it to a new upper stage, and relaunch it to its intended geosynchronous orbit. After several attempts, the capture was completed with a three-person extra-vehicular activity (EVA).
Low Earth OrbitThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
First of a three launches contract for Amazon's Kuiper low Earth orbit satellite internet constellation, with 24 satellites on board.
A batch of 26 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Eighth cargo delivery mission to the Chinese space station.
Note: SpaceX identifies the mission as "Commercial GTO 1". Dror-1 is a geostationary communication satellite built and developed by Israel Aerospa…