Daniel Christopher Burbank (born July 27, 1961) is a retired American

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

and a veteran of two

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

missions. Burbank, a

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mult ...

, is the second Coast Guard astronaut after

Bruce Melnick Bruce Edward Melnick (born December 5, 1949) is a retired American astronaut and 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 B ...

Early life and education

Burbank was born in

Manchester, Connecticut Manchester is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 59,713. The urban center of the town is the Manchester census-designated place, with a population of 36,379 at the 202 ...

, and raised in Tolland, Connecticut, where he graduated from Tolland High School. He attended

Fairfield University Fairfield University is a private Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2017, the university had about 4,100 full-time undergraduate students and 1,100 graduate students, including full-time ...

his freshman year before transferring to the United States Coast Guard Academy, where he earned his commission in 1985. In 1987, he went through flight training and became an instructor pilot, serving at various Coast Guard stations at Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod, and

Coast Guard Air Station Sitka Coast Guard Air Station Sitka, Commanded by Commander Vincent J. Jansen, is an Air Station of the United States Coast Guard located in Sitka, Alaska. The station was originally established on Annette Island in March 1944, until relocating to Sit ...

. He has a master's degree in aeronautical science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

NASA career

Selected by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

in April 1996, Burbank reported to the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

in August 1996. After completing two years of training and evaluation, Burbank worked technical issues for the Astronaut Office Operations Planning Branch, and the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

(ISS) Branch, and served as CAPCOM (spacecraft communicator) for both Space Shuttle and ISS missions. He was also a member of the Space Shuttle Cockpit Avionics Upgrade design team. Twice flown, he served as a mission specialist on STS-106 and STS-115 logging over 23 days in space, and 7 hours and 11 minutes of EVA time. From January 2007 to December 2009, Burbank served as a professor of engineering at the

U.S. Coast Guard Academy The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) is a service academy of the United States Coast Guard in New London, Connecticut. Founded in 1876, it is the smallest of the five U.S. service academies and provides education to future Coast G ...

, where he taught astronomy, aerodynamics, and statics & engineering design. Burbank was assigned to ISS Expedition 29 and

Expedition 30 Expedition 30 was the 30th long-duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The expedition's first three crew members – Dan Burbank, Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoli Ivanishin – arrived on the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-22 on 16 ...

aboard ISS beginning September 2011.

Spaceflight experience

STS-106 ''Atlantis'' (September 8–20, 2000). During the 12-day mission, the crew successfully prepared the ISS for the arrival of the first permanent crew. The five astronauts and two cosmonauts delivered more than 6,600 pounds of supplies and installed batteries, power converters, oxygen generation equipment and a treadmill on the ISS. A

space walk Extravehicular activity (EVA) is any activity done by an astronaut in outer space outside a spacecraft. In the absence of a breathable Earthlike atmosphere, the astronaut is completely reliant on a space suit for environmental support. EVA inc ...

was performed to connect power and data cables between the newly arrived Service Module and the ISS. STS-115 ''Atlantis'' (September 9–21, 2006) successfully restarted assembly of the ISS. During the 12-day mission, the crew delivered and installed the massive P3/P4 truss, and two sets of solar arrays that provide one quarter of the station's electrical power. The crew also performed unprecedented robotics activity using the Shuttle and ISS robotic arms. Burbank made a seven-hour extravehicular activity (EVA), a.k.a. a "spacewalk," that completed P3/P4 truss installation, activated the solar alpha rotary joint and enabled the solar arrays to be deployed. Expedition 29 was launched to the ISS along with Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoli Ivanishin on November 13, arriving at the station on November 16 via Soyuz TMA-22. This expedition spent 66 days in space.

Burbank then served as commander of Expedition 30, beginning in November 2011. Burbank, along with Shkaplerov and Ivanishin, returned to Earth on April 27, 2012 after spending an additional 158 days in space.

Awards and decorations

Burbank has received the following awards and honors:

Personal life

Burbank is listed as a member of the astronaut band "

Max Q The max q or maximum dynamic pressure condition is the point when an aerospace vehicle's atmospheric flight reaches the maximum difference between the fluid dynamics total pressure and the ambient static pressure. For an airplane, this occurs at ...

", and a former member of

The Idlers The Idlers of the United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA) are an all-male collegiate a cappella ensemble specializing in the performance of sea shanties and patriotic music. Overview A relatively exclusive group with a history and traditions si ...

. He is a licensed

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...

operator (ham) with Technician License K1DCB.

References

External links

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Spacefacts biography of Daniel C. Burbank

QRZ.com Ham License information for Daniel Burbank

Story: Five Radio Amateurs Now Aboard ISS

''Reservist'' Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burbank, Daniel C. 1961 births Living people United States Coast Guard astronauts NASA civilian astronauts People from Manchester, Connecticut People from Tolland, Connecticut United States Coast Guard Academy alumni Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University alumni United States Coast Guard captains United States Coast Guard Aviation United States Naval Aviators Recipients of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the Air Medal Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Recipients of the NASA Exceptional Service Medal Amateur radio people Commanders of the International Space Station Space Shuttle program astronauts Spacewalkers