Astronaut Career
Selected by NASA in January 1990, Bursch became an astronaut in July 1991. His technical assignments to date include: Astronaut Office Operations Development Branch, working on controls and displays for the Space Shuttle and Space Station; Chief of Astronaut Appearances; spacecraft communicator (CAPCOM) in mission control. A veteran of four space flights, Bursch has logged over 227 days in space. He was a mission specialist on STS-51 (1993), STS-68 (1994) and STS-77 (1996), and served as flight engineer on International Space Station Expedition 4 (2001–2002). Dan Bursch and fellow astronaut Carl Walz completed one of the longest U.S. space flights of 196 days in space. In January 2003, Bursch reported to the Naval Postgraduate School for a two-year assignment as an instructor in the Space Systems Academic Group.
He left NASA in May 2005, and later retired from active duty in July 2005 after 26 years of service in the U.S. Navy. Bursch joined The Aerospace Corporation in July 2005 and is currently serving as the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Chair at the Naval Postgraduate School.
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