MARIO RUNCO, JR. 

EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENTIST

HUMAN EXPLORATION SCIENCE

ASTROMATERIALS RESEARCH AND EXPLORATION SCIENCE

SPACE LIFE SCIENCES DIRECTORATE (RET)

Pronunciation: MAR-ee-oh RUN-co

PERSONAL DATA: Runco was born in the Bronx, New York, on January 26, 1952. 

Raised in the Highbridge section of the Bronx near Yankee Stadium, his family moved 

to Yonkers, New York, in his early teen years. He is married to the former Susan Kay 

Friess of Sylvania, Ohio; they have two children, Maria and Carl. He enjoys ice hockey, 

baseball, softball, camping, model railroads, toy train collecting and astronomy, among 

other interests. He played intercollegiate ice hockey on the City College of New York 

and Rutgers University teams. Runco’s parents Mario and Filomena Ragusa Runco, still 

reside in Yonkers, New York, and Sue’s parents, Fredrick and Margaret Bidlack Friess, 

reside in Sylvania, Ohio.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Sacred Heart School, Bronx, New York, in 1966 and Cardinal Hayes High School, Bronx, 

New York, in 1970. Received a bachelor of science degree in Earth and Planetary Science from the City College of New York 

in 1974, a master of science degree in Atmospheric Physics from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1976, and 

an honorary doctor of science degree from the City College of New York in 1999.

SPECIAL HONORS: Awarded the Defense Superior Service, Defense Meritorious Service, NASA Exceptional Service, 

Navy Achievement and Navy Pistol Expert Medals. Also awarded three NASA Space Flight Medals (STS-44, STS-54 and 

STS-77), two Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbons (USS NASSAU and USNS CHAUVENET), and the Navy Battle 

Efficiency Ribbon (USS NASSAU). Runco was also the recipient of the City College of New York’s Townsend Harris Medal 

(1993) and the Cardinal Hayes High School John Cardinal Spellman Award (1993). As an undergraduate, he received the City 

College of New York Class of 1938 Athletic Service Award.

EXPERIENCE: After graduating from Rutgers University, Runco worked for a year as a research hydrologist, conducting 

groundwater surveys for the U.S. Geological Survey on Long Island, New York. In 1977, he joined the New Jersey State Police 

and, after completing training at the New Jersey State Police Academy, he worked as a New Jersey State Trooper until he 

entered the Navy in June 1978. Upon completion of Navy Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island, in September 

1978, he was commissioned and assigned to the Naval Research Lab in Monterey, California, as a research meteorologist. From

April 1981 to December 1983, he served as the meteorological officer aboard the Amphibious Assault Ship USS NASSAU 

(LHA-4). It was during this tour of duty that he earned his designation as a Naval Surface Warfare Officer. From January 1984 

to December 1985, he worked as a laboratory instructor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. From 

December 1985 to December 1986, he served as commanding officer of Oceanographic Unit 4 and the Naval Survey Vessel 

USNS CHAUVENET (T-AGS 29), conducting hydrographic and oceanographic surveys of the Java Sea and Indian Ocean. His 

last assignment within the Navy was as fleet environmental services officer, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Runco joined NASA in 1987 

and remained on active duty as a NASA astronaut until 1994.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in June 1987, Runco qualified for assignment as an 

astronaut mission specialist in August of 1988. A veteran of three space flights (STS-44 in 1991, STS-54 in 1993, and STS-77 

in 1996), Runco has logged over 551 hours in space, which includes a 4.5-hour spacewalk during his STS-54 mission. His 

technical assignments to date include having served in Operations Development, where he assisted in the design, development 

and testing of the space shuttle crew escape system; in Mission Support at the Software Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), 

where he performed test and evaluation of space shuttle mission-specific flight software; at the Kennedy Space Center as 

astronaut support, where he assisted in preparing space shuttle missions for launch and in the Mission Control Center as a 

Capsule (Spacecraft) Communicator (CAPCOM). Runco served as an Earth and planetary scientist; as the lead for Science and 

Utilization of the International Space Station’s Destiny Module Science Window and the Window Observational Research 

Facility (WORF), both of which he helped design; as the project manager for the Lunar Habitation Systems Project 

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

January 2018

Biographical Data

 Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

 Houston, Texas 77058
Fast Track and as the JSC lead for spacecraft window optical requirements. He retired December 31, 2017.

SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: On his first flight, Runco served on the crew of STS-44 aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis,

which launched on the night of November 24, 1991. The primary mission objective was accomplished with the successful 

deployment of a Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite. In addition, the crew conducted two Military Man-in-Space Earth 

Observation experiments, three radiation monitoring experiments, and numerous life sciences experiments in support of 

long-duration space flights. The mission concluded after completing 110 orbits of the Earth. Atlantis returned to a landing on 

the lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on December 1, 1991. Mission duration was 6 days, 22 hours and 50 

minutes.

Just over 1 year later, Runco served as a mission specialist on the crew of STS-54 aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. STS-54 

(January 13 to 19, 1993) launched and landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The 6-day mission featured the 

deployment of a NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-F) and carried the Diffuse X-Ray Spectrometer (DXS) in the 

payload bay. This astronomical instrument, designed to expand the knowledge of stellar evolution, scanned the local vicinity of 

our Milky Way galaxy and recorded the low-energy X-ray emanations believed to originate from the plasma remnants of an 

ancient supernova. Crewmate Greg Harbaugh and Runco also became the 47th and 48th Americans to walk in space during a 

4.5-hour space walk designed to evaluate the limits of human performance during Extravehicular Activities (EVAs) in

anticipation of the construction of the International Space Station. In what was called the “Physics of Toys,” which has since 

become a popular children’s educational video, the crew also demonstrated how everyday toys behave in space to an interactive

audience of elementary school students across the United States. Mission duration was 5 days, 23 hours and 38 minutes.

Runco also served as a mission specialist on the crew of STS-77 aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour (May 19-29, 1996). 

STS-77 carried a number of technology development experiments as well as a suite of microgravity science experiments. The 

technology development experiments included two deployable satellites, both of which he deployed. For the deploy of the 

Spartan/Inflatable Antenna Experiment, Runco was the Remote Manipulator System (Robotic Arm) operator. The other 

deployable was a small Satellite Test Unit (STU) that used residual atmospheric drag and the Earth’s magnetic field for attitude 

control and stabilization. STS-77 also featured the fourth flight of a SpaceHab module as an experiment laboratory. Runco also 

filmed some additional Physics of Toys scenes for a sequel to the original educational video and subsequently made several 

appearances on the children’s television show, Sesame Street. Mission duration was 10 days and 39 minutes.