Dominic Anthony "Tony" Antonelli (born August 23, 1967) is a retired

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 ...

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 ...

. Antonelli was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, but was raised in both

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

and

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. He is married and has two children.

Education

Antonelli graduated from Douglas Byrd High School in

Fayetteville, North Carolina Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city. Fayetteville has received the All-America C ...

. He went on to attend the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, where he earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of air flight–capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identifies ...

and astronautics. He later attended the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

, earning a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

and astronautics. STS-119 Day 7 Tony Antonelli meal

Military career

Antonelli served as a fleet

Naval Aviator Naval aviation is the application of military air power by navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. Naval aviation is typically projected to a position nearer the target by way of an aircraft carrier. Carrier-based a ...

and Landing Signal Officer aboard the aircraft carrier with the Blue Diamonds (

VFA-146 Strike Fighter Squadron 146 (VFA-146) also known as the "Blue Diamonds" is a United States Navy operational fleet strike fighter squadron based at Naval Air Station Lemoore California. They fly the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, F/A-18E Super H ...

), flying F/A-18C Hornets in support of Operation Southern Watch. Antonelli has accumulated over 3,200 hours in 41 different kinds of aircraft and has completed 273 carrier arrested landings. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the

U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School (USAF TPS) is the Air Force's advanced flight training school that trains experimental test pilots, flight test engineers, and flight test flight officer, navigators to carry out tests and evaluations of new ...

(Navy Exchange Pilot).

NASA career

Selected as an astronaut candidate by NASA in July 2000, Antonelli served in various technical assignments until his assignment to a mission. He served as pilot on the

STS-119 STS-119 ( ISS assembly flight 15A) was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) which was flown by space shuttle Discovery during March 2009. It delivered and assembled the fourth starboard Integrated Truss Segment (S6), ...

mission which launched on March 15, 2009. The flight delivered the final pair of power-generating solar array wings and truss element to 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 ...

. Antonelli was assigned as pilot on the STS-132 mission, launched on May 14, 2010. The mission saw the delivery of the Russian Mini-Research Module 1 (MRM-1) to the

Awards and honors

* Navy Meritorious Service Medal * Navy Commendation Medal * Navy Achievement Medals (2) *

Unit Battle Efficiency Award Unit may refer to: Arts and entertainment * UNIT, a fictional military organization in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' * Unit of action, a discrete piece of action (or beat) in a theatrical presentation Music * ''Unit'' (alb ...

s (2) * CVW-9 Landing Signal Officer of the Year *

NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal The NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal is an award of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration established in 1991. The medal is awarded to both civilian members of NASA and military astronauts. To be awarded the medal, a NASA employee ...

*NASA Superior Accomplishment Award *NASA Return-to-Flight Award

References

External links

NASA bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antonelli, Dominic A. 1967 births Living people United States Navy astronauts MIT School of Engineering alumni University of Washington College of Engineering alumni U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School alumni United States Navy officers United States Naval Aviators Recipients of the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal Space Shuttle program astronauts Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (United States)