Bruce E. Melnick Born: Astronaut and Coast Guard Officer

Summary

Bruce E. Melnick is reported as having been born on December 5, 1949, in New York City, New York, and considers Clearwater, Florida, his hometown. He is a retired United States Coast Guard officer and NASA astronaut who became the first Coast Guard aviator to fly in space. Melnick earned a Bachelor of Science in engineering from the United States Coast Guard Academy in 1972 and a Master of Science in aeronautical systems from the University of West Florida in 1975. Selected in NASA Astronaut Group 12 in 1987, he flew as a mission specialist on STS-41 in 1990, deploying the Ulysses spacecraft, and on STS-49 in 1992, the first flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour, where the crew rescued and repaired a satellite. After retiring from NASA and the Coast Guard in 1992, he held executive roles at Boeing, including vice president for Florida operations at Kennedy Space Center. Melnick logged over 5,000 flight hours and more than 300 hours in space across his career.