BRUCE E. MELNICK

NASA ASTRONAUT (FORMER)

PERSONAL DATA: Born in 1949. He resides in Inglis, Florida.

EDUCATION: Melnick received a master’s degree in aeronautical systems from the 

University of West Florida and a bachelor’s degree in engineering with honors from the 

U.S. Coast Guard Academy. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of science degree 

from the University of West Florida on 28 April 2001.

EXPERIENCE: During his 20-year career with the U.S. Coast Guard, Melnick’s 

assignments included serving as operations officer and chief test pilot at the Coast 

Guard Aircraft Program Office in Grand Prairie, Texas. In that capacity, he conducted 

most of the developmental and all of the acceptance test flights for the HH-65 

helicopter, including sea trials, and wrote the HH-65 flight manual. During his Coast 

Guard service, Melnick received numerous awards, including two Department of 

Defense Distinguished Service Medals, two Distinguished Flying Crosses and the 

Secretary of Transportation Heroism Award. In 1992, he received the U.S. Coast 

Guard Academy Distinguished Alumni Award. He logged over 5,000 hours flying time, predominantly in the H-3, H-52, H-65, 

and T-38 aircraft.

Selected by NASA in June 1987, Melnick became an astronaut in August 1988, qualified for flight assignment as a mission 

specialist. Subsequent technical assignments included: Astronaut Support Personnel (ASP) team at the Kennedy Space Center 

assigned to prepare Shuttle Orbiter cockpits and middecks prior to each flight; represented the Astronaut Office in the assembly 

and checkout of the new Space Shuttle Orbiter "Endeavour" (OV-105) at the contractor facilities in California; served as head 

of the flight software verification team in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL). During the five years he served 

in NASA’s astronaut corps, Melnick flew as a mission specialist on the Shuttle Discovery STS-41 (October 6-10, 1990) when 

the Ulysses spacecraft was deployed. He served as a flight engineer on STS-49 (May 7-16, 1992), which was the first flight of 

the Shuttle Endeavour. During that mission, astronauts rescued and repaired the Intelsat VI satellite. He has logged more than 

300 hours in space.

Commander Melnick retired from the U.S. Coast Guard and left NASA in July 1992. 

Subsequent to his Coast Guard and NASA careers, Melnick was the Vice President for Boeing Florida Operations at the John F. 

Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Melnick’s organization, a part of the Boeing Integrated Defense Systems group, provided a 

variety of support services to Boeing programs in the state. Headquartered in Titusville, the organization has approximately 

2,400 employees. Services provided by Boeing in Florida include engineering, facilities and maintenance support to NASA and 

the Department of Defense for Space Shuttle, International Space Station and Delta rocket programs. Melnick was also 

responsible for the pursuit of new business for the company in Florida.

Previously Melnick was the Boeing Company Vice President at KSC for the NASA’s Payload Ground Operations Contract,

with 1,600 employees. The contract included all the engineering and facilities support and maintenance activities related to 

preparing spacecraft and/or payloads for the Space Shuttle missions prior to launch and after landing. The division also 

provided support to NASA and its contractors for the International Space Station hardware.

Prior to joining Boeing (McDonnell Douglas at the time), Melnick was Vice President/Director for Shuttle Engineering at 

United Space Alliance, formerly Lockheed Martin Space Operations, from 1994 to 1996. From 1992 to 1994, he was Director 

of Process Improvement Technology at Lockheed Space Operations Company.

JULY 2010

This is the only version available through NASA. Updates must be sought directly from the above named individual

National Aeronautics and

Space Administration

Biographical Data

 Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

 Houston, Texas 77058