{{short description, Aerospace engineer and RCA shuttle astronaut {{good article {{Infobox astronaut , name =Robert J. Cenker , image =Robert Cenker.jpg , type = RCA Astro-Electronics Payload Specialist , nationality =American , status =Retired , birth_name =Robert Joseph Cenker , birth_date ={{birth date and age, 1948, 11, 05 , birth_place = Menallen Township, Pennsylvania, U.S. , occupation =

Engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, alma_mater =

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

, B.S. 1970, M.S. 1973
Rutgers, M.S. 1977 , selection = , time =6d 02h 03m , mission = STS-61-C , insignia = , Date of ret =January 18, 1986 } Robert Joseph "Bob" Cenker (born November 5, 1948) is an American

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...

and

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

, aerospace systems consultant, and former astronaut. Cenker worked for 18 years at RCA Astro-Electronics, and its successor company GE Astro Space, on a variety of

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...

projects. He spent most of his career working on commercial communications satellites, including the Satcom, Spacenet and GStar programs. In January 1986, Cenker was a crew member on the twenty-fourth mission of NASA's

Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...

, the seventh flight of Space Shuttle ''Columbia'', designated as mission STS-61-C. Cenker served as a Payload Specialist,{{efn, name=Category representing RCA Astro-Electronics. This mission was the final flight before the Challenger disaster, which caused the Space Shuttle program to be suspended until 1988, and impacted NASA's Payload Specialist program for even longer. As a result, Cenker's mission was called "The End of Innocence" for the Shuttle program. Following the completion of his Shuttle mission, Cenker returned to work in the commercial aerospace field. Since his flight, he has made numerous public appearances representing NASA and the Shuttle program, in the United States, as well as internationally. {{toclimit, limit=3

Early life and education

Cenker was born on November 5, 1948, and raised in Menallen Township, Pennsylvania.{{R, Zajac{{R, Facts{{R, JSC He started his education at St. Fidelis College Seminary in

Herman, Pennsylvania Herman is an unincorporated community in Summit Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachia ...

, leaving in 1962.{{R, Fidelis In 1970 Cenker enrolled at

Penn State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State became ...

{{R, Pennlive 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 ...

degree in

aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

. He continued his studies at Penn State and earned 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 ...

degree in 1973, also in aerospace engineering.{{R, Kennedy{{R, JSC Cenker earned a second Master of Science degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

in 1977.{{R, Kennedy

Pre-spaceflight career

Cenker worked for 18 years at RCA Astro-Electronics and its successor company GE Astro Space. Cenker worked on hardware design and systems design concerning

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

attitude control. He also worked on in-orbit operations, as well as spacecraft assembly, test, and pre-launch operations. He spent two years on the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

navigation satellite program, but spent most of his career working on commercial

communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. C ...

s.{{R, JSC Cenker's positions included integration and test manager for the Satcom D and E spacecraft, where he was responsible for all launch site activities. He also served as

spacecraft bus A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held. Bus-derived satellites are opposed to specially produced satellites. Bus-d ...

manager on the

Spacenet Acquired by SageNet in 2014, Spacenet, Inc. was a provider of VSAT satellite-based data network services as well as hybrid satellite/terrestrial networks and network management services. Spacenet was headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia in the ...

/GStar programs. He was responsible for ensuring the spacecraft could interface with multiple rockets, including the

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also re ...

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 ...

, and

Ariane Ariane may refer to: *Ariana (name), also Ariane, Arianne Arts * ''Ariane'' (Martinů), an opera by Bohuslav Martinů, first performed 1961 * ''Ariane'' (Massenet), an opera by Jules Massenet, first performed 1906 * ''Ariane'' (film), a 1931 ...

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, launch pads, supported by a missile launch contro ...

s.{{R, JSC

Spaceflight experience

{{further, STS-61-C STS-61-C crew

As an incentive for a spacecraft owner to contract with NASA to use a Shuttle launch instead of an unmanned, commercial launch system,

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 ...

permitted contracting companies to apply for a payload specialist seat on the same mission. When RCA contracted with NASA to launch Satcom Ku-1, RCA Astro-Electronics' manager of systems engineering for the Satcom-K program Bob Cenker, and his co-worker Gerard Magilton, were selected to train as payload specialists so that one of the pair could accompany Satcom Ku-1 into space.{{R, 61C{{R, GM{{R, BTR Cenker and Magilton trained with career astronauts as well as other payload and mission specialists, including those scheduled for the next scheduled flight, that of the ''

Challenger Challenger, Challengers, or The Challengers may refer to: Entertainment Comics and manga * Challenger (character), comic book character * ''Challengers'' (manga), manga by Hinako Takanaga Film and TV * ''The Challengers'' (TV series), a 1979 ...

'' mission,

STS-51-L STS-51-L was the 25th mission of the NASA Space Shuttle program and the final flight of Space Shuttle ''Challenger''. Planned as the first Teacher in Space Project flight in addition to observing Halley's Comet for six days and performing a ...

.{{R, GM{{R, TIS This flight of '' Columbia'' was originally scheduled to occur in August 1985, but the timeline slipped. In July 1985 the payload was finalized to include the RCA satellite, and Cenker was assigned to the mission, now designated as STS-61-C. Magilton was assigned as the back-up.{{R, OMI-Pt1 {{CSS image crop , Image = STS-61-C shuttle.jpg , bSize = 400 , cWidth = 150 , cHeight = 250 , oTop = 200 , oLeft = 120 , Location = right , Description = STS-61-C launch , Link = , Alt = , Page = , magnify-link = Prior to its successful launch, ''Columbia'' had several aborted launch attempts, including one on January 6 which was "one of the most hazardous in the Shuttle’s operational history" to that point. As documented in Crewmember Bill Nelson's book "Mission: An American Congressman's Voyage to Space", and as reported in Spaceflight Insider, "The launch attempt on Jan. 6, 1986 was halted at T-31 seconds. The weather was perfect for the scheduled launch at dawn, but a failure of a liquid oxygen drain valve prevented it to close properly. The valve was then closed manually, but not quickly enough to prevent a low temperature in one fuel line." However, Nelson says that what really happened was that "the valve did not close because it was not commanded to close",{{R, Jacques and that it was later determined that the

Rogers Commission The Rogers Commission Report was written by a Presidential Commission charged with investigating the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' disaster during its 10th mission, STS-51-L. The report, released and submitted to President Ronald Reagan on Jun ...

, investigating the series of mistakes that forced this second scrub, recognized that the problems were personnel-related, caused by fatigue from overwork: One potentially catastrophic human error occurred 4 minutes 55 seconds before the scheduled launch of mission 61-C on January 6, 1986. According to a Lockheed Space Operations Company incident report, 18,000 pounds of

liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an applica ...

were inadvertently drained from the Shuttle external fuel tank due to operator error. Fortunately, the liquid oxygen flow dropped the main engine inlet temperature below the acceptable limit causing a launch hold, but only 31 seconds before lift-off. As the report states, "Had the mission not been scrubbed, the ability of the orbiter to reach a defined orbit may have been significantly impacted.{{R, Jacques There was another near-catastrophic launch abort three days later. Referring to the January 9 abort, pilot Charlie Bolden later stated that it "...would have been catastrophic, because the engine would have exploded had we launched.{{R, OMI-Pt2 In all, it took a record eight attempts to get ''Columbia'' off the ground.{{R, Jacques ''Columbia'' finally launched and achieved orbit on January 12, 1986, with a full crew of seven. Along with Cenker, the crew included Robert L. "Hoot" Gibson, future NASA Administrator

Charles F. Bolden Charles Frank Bolden Jr. (born August 19, 1946) is a former Administrator of NASA, a retired United States Marine Corps Major General, and a former astronaut who flew on four Space Shuttle missions. He graduated from the United States Naval ...

, George D. Nelson, Steven A. Hawley, Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, and US Representative Bill Nelson.{{R, Kit{{R, Impossible{{R, Impossible2 Cenker and his crewmates traveled over 2.5 million miles in 98 orbits aboard Columbia and logged over 146 hours in

space Space is the boundless three-dimensional extent in which objects and events have relative position and direction. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider ...

.{{R, KSC

During the six-day mission, January 12–18, Cenker performed a variety of physiological tests, operated a primary experiment – an infrared imaging camera – and assisted with the deployment of RCA Americom's Satcom Ku-1 satellite, the primary mission objective.{{R, Kit{{R, KSC{{R, KU-1 Satcom Ku-1 was deployed nearly 10 hours into the mission, and Satcom later reached its designated geostationary orbital position at 85 degrees West longitude where it remained operational until April 1997, the last major commercial satellite deployed by the Space Shuttle program. In a 2014 video of the "Tell Me a Story" series titled "Close My Eyes & Drift Away", posted to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel, Cenker tells a humorous story regarding a zero-g sleeping problem he faced on his mission.{{R, Story The next Shuttle launch, ten days after the return of ''Columbia'', resulted in the destruction of the ''Challenger'' with the loss of all aboard, including Cenker's counterpart from Hughes Aircraft, civilian crew member and Payload Specialist

Greg Jarvis Gregory Bruce Jarvis (August 24, 1944 – January 28, 1986) was an American engineer and astronaut who died during the destruction of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' on mission STS-51-L, where he was serving as payload specialist for Hughes ...

.{{R, 51L Accordingly, commander Gibson later called the STS-61-C mission "The End of Innocence" for the Shuttle program.{{R, OMI-Pt1{{R, OMI-Pt2 Following the Challenger disaster, the Shuttle fleet was grounded until 1988.{{R, STS-26 Even after Shuttle missions resumed, civilian payload specialists like Cenker were excluded until the payload specialist program was reinstated on December 2, 1990, when

Samuel T. Durrance Samuel Thornton Durrance (Doctor of Philosophy, Ph.D.) (born September 17, 1943) is an American scientist who flew aboard two NASA Space Shuttle missions as a payload specialist. Background Durrance was born September 17, 1943, in Tallahassee, F ...

, an Applied Physics Laboratory astrophysicist and

Ronald A. Parise Ronald Anthony Parise (May 24, 1951 – May 9, 2008) was an Italian American scientist who flew aboard two NASA Space Shuttle missions as a payload specialist. Parise was born in Warren, Ohio to Henry and Catherine Parise (nee Pasha). By age 11, ...

, a

Computer Sciences Corporation Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) was an American multinational corporation that provided information technology (IT) services and professional services. On April 3, 2017, it merged with the Enterprise Services line of business of HP Ente ...

astronomer, flew aboard

STS-35 STS-35 was the tenth flight of Space Shuttle ''Columbia'', the 38th shuttle flight, and a mission devoted to astronomical observations with ASTRO-1, a Spacelab observatory consisting of four telescopes. The mission launched from Kennedy Spac ...

.{{R, Delay By that time, RCA had been purchased by

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

, and RCA Astro-Electronics became part of GE. Following two additional ownership transitions, the facility was closed in 1998. As a result, Cenker was the only RCA Astro-Electronics employee, and only employee in the history of the facility under all of its subsequent names, to ever fly in space.{{R, AstroRecords NASA's Payload Specialist program has been criticized for giving limited Shuttle flight positions to civilian aerospace engineers such as Cenker and Greg Jarvis (killed aboard ''Challenger''), politicians such as Bill Nelson, and other civilians such as

Teacher in Space The Teacher in Space Project (TISP) was a NASA program announced by Ronald Reagan in 1984 designed to inspire students, honor teachers, and spur interest in mathematics, science, and space exploration. The project would carry teachers into space ...

Christa McAuliffe Sharon Christa McAuliffe ( Corrigan; September 2, 1948 – January 28, 1986) was an American teacher and astronaut from Concord, New Hampshire, who was killed on the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' on mission STS-51-L where she was serving as a ...

(also killed aboard ''Challenger''). Even the flight of former Mercury astronaut and US Senator

John Glenn John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space, and the first American to orbit the Earth, circling ...

was questioned.{{R, Glenn The concern was that these people had replaced career astronauts in very limited flight opportunities, and some may have flown without fully understanding the level of danger involved in a Shuttle mission.{{efn, name=Category, There was another Space Shuttle astronaut category sometimes confused with that of Payload Specialist: While Payload Specialists were non-NASA personnel selected for a single specific mission, Mission Specialists were selected as astronauts first, and then subsequently assigned to flights as mission needs dictated.{{efn, A 1986 post-''Challenger'' article in ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' reviewed the issue, reporting that as far back as 1982, NASA was concerned with finding reasonable justifications for flying civilians on the Shuttle as was directed by the

Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

administration. The Post article says that "A review of records and interviews with past and present NASA and government officials shows the civilian program's controversial background, with different groups pushing for different approaches." The article continues: "Author

Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...

, who chronicled the early days of the space program in '' The Right Stuff,'' wrote after the ''Challenger'' explosion that support for the citizen program, and therefore McAuliffe's place aboard the shuttle, was part of an insiders' battle. NASA civilians, pitting themselves against the professional astronauts, used the program for the 'dismantling of Astropower,' which Wolfe described as 'the political grip the original breed of fighter-pilot test-pilot astronauts had on NASA.' "{{R, Pincus

Post-spaceflight

Following the completion of his Shuttle mission, Cenker returned to work in the civilian aerospace field. Cenker's last two years with RCA Astro-Electronics and its successor GE Astro Space were spent as Manager of Payload Accommodations on an EOS spacecraft program. After leaving GE, Cenker served as a consultant for various aerospace companies regarding micro-gravity research, and spacecraft design, assembly and flight operations. Cenker supported

systems engineering Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their enterprise life cycle, life cycles. At its core, systems engineering util ...

and systems architecture studies for various spacecraft projects, including smallsats, military

communications satellites A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Radi ...

, and large, assembled-in-orbit platforms. His contributions included launch vehicle evaluation and systems engineering support for

Motorola Motorola, Inc. () was an American Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, United States. After having lost $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009, the company split into two independent p ...

Iridium Iridium is a chemical element with the symbol Ir and atomic number 77. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group, it is considered the second-densest naturally occurring metal (after osmium) with a density of ...

, and launch readiness for the Globalstar constellation. Other efforts include systems engineering and operations support for

INTELSAT Intelsat S.A. (formerly INTEL-SAT, INTELSAT, Intelsat) is a multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States. Originally formed as In ...

on Intelsat K and Intelsat VIII, for

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

Telstar Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the fir ...

401 and 402, for Fairchild-Matra on SPAS III, for

Martin Marietta The Martin Marietta Corporation was an American company founded in 1961 through the merger of Glenn L. Martin Company and American-Marietta Corporation. In 1995, it merged with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin. History Martin Mari ...

Astra 1B Astra 1B was the second of the Astra communications satellites launched and operated by SES (Société Européenne des Satellites) to add extra capacity to the satellite television (direct broadcasting) services from 19.2° East, serving Germa ...

BS-3N Yuri, also known as Broadcasting Satellite or BS, was a series of Japanese direct broadcast satellites. The first satellite of this series, called BSE or Yuri 1, was launched in 1978. The last BS series satellite, BS-3b (Yuri 3b), was launched ...

ACTS The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message ...

, and for the

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

Series 7000 communications satellites.{{R, JSC In 2017, Cenker's STS-61C crewmate former

US Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

Bill Nelson spoke at a session of the US House of Representatives. In an address, titled "Mission to Mars and Space Shuttle Flight 30th Anniversary", he read into the

Congressional Record The ''Congressional Record'' is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress, published by the United States Government Publishing Office and issued when Congress is in session. The Congressional Record Inde ...

the details of the mission of STS-61C, as well as the names and function of each crew member including Cenker.{{R, Congressional{{rp, page S45 In June 2017, Cenker traveled to

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

where he and astronaut

Doug Wheelock Douglas Harry "Wheels" Wheelock (born May 5, 1960) is an American engineer and astronaut. He has flown in space twice, logging 178 days on the Space Shuttle, International Space Station, and Russian Soyuz. On July 12, 2011, Wheelock announced ...

gave a series of talks to children in

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

schools as part of the Scottish Space School.{{R, Scotsman Cenker continues to make periodic public appearances representing NASA and the astronaut program,{{R, VfS{{R, Patch{{R, WClub{{R, PressRelease including at the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten field centers. Since December 1968 ...

Visitor Complex in March 2017{{R, Kennedy, January 2023,{{R, DisneyNewsdesk and April 2024.{{R, Kennedy2

Apollo 11 commemoration activities

Leading up to the 50th anniversary of the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, an ...

mission, Cenker participated in several public events with other former NASA astronauts. During an interview to discuss his scheduled appearance at The

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Governor's School of Engineering & Technology at

in July 2019, Cenker talked about his education at Rutgers, his work at RCA, his shuttle mission, his connection to the Challenger crew, his thoughts on the importance of the Apollo 11 mission, and of space travel in general.{{R, Medina He concluded: {{Quote, text=I want students interested in a space career to find something that they love to study, and there may come a time when NASA needs that expertise. I love engineering and even if I didn’t make it into space, I would still be doing what I loved. You can’t push yourself to study something you don’t love and do it as well as someone who does. What I want students to ask themselves is “how can I do what I love and how can that benefit spaceflight?”{{R, Medina The

Cradle of Aviation The Cradle of Aviation Museum is an aerospace museum located in Garden City, New York on Long Island, established to commemorate Long Island's part in the history of aviation. It is located on land once part of Mitchel Air Force Base which, tog ...

Garden City, New York Garden City is a village located on Long Island in Nassau County New York. It is the Greater Garden City area's anchor community. The population was 23,272 at the 2020 census. The Incorporated Village of Garden City is primarily located within ...

invited Cenker to participate in its "Moon Fest" planned for July 20, 2019, exactly fifty years after the Apollo 11 landing. It was announced that Cenker would join two fellow shuttle astronauts from New York, Bill Shepherd and Charlie Camarda, at the celebration.{{R, Cradle

Personal life and beliefs

Bob Cenker is married to Barbara Ann Cenker; they have two sons and a daughter.{{R, JSC In a July 2019 interview discussing the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, Cenker commented that he believes that humans have an innate desire to explore, saying "It’s not learned... It’s in your genes". Discussing his religious beliefs, Cenker said "I'm a good, practicing Catholic. One of the guys I flew with was an agnostic. I think going into space reinforces what you believe when you went... he agnostic astronautcouldn’t grasp how one being could create all this. I came back thinking ‘God, you have to be there’".{{R, Zajac

Professional societies

* Associate

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

in the

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

(AIAA){{R, JSC * Life Member of the

Alumni Association{{R, JSC * Life Member of the Association of Space Explorers{{R, JSC * Registered Professional Engineer in the state of

{{R, JSC * Senior Member of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

(IEEE){{R, JSC *

Sigma Gamma Tau Sigma Gamma Tau () is the American honor society in Aerospace Engineering. It seeks to identify and recognize achievement and excellence in the Aerospace field within the United States. Sigma Gamma Tau's collegiate chapters elect annually to m ...

{{R, JSC *

Tau Beta Pi The Tau Beta Pi Association (commonly Tau Beta Pi, , or TBP) is the oldest engineering honor society and the second oldest collegiate honor society in the United States. It honors engineering students in American universities who have shown a ...

{{R, JSC

Photo gallery

{{Gallery , title= , width=160 , height=170 , align=center , File:STS-61C gag crew photo.jpg, Gag crew photo , File:STS-61-c-patch.png , STS-61-C insignia

Notes

{{notelist

References

{{Reflist, 30em, refs= {{cite web, last1=Snyder, first1=Susan, title=Astronaut Facts, url=http://www.philly.com/philly/education/astronaut-facts-20170616.html, website=Philly.com, date=20 June 2017 , publisher=The Inquirer, access-date=6 October 2017, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171006165719/http://www.philly.com/philly/education/astronaut-facts-20170616.html, archive-date=6 October 2017 {{cite web, title=Biographical Data: Robert J. Ceneker, url=https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/cenker.pdf , publisher=NASA, access-date=January 10, 2021 , date=May 1999 {{cite book, title=Saint Fidelis Alumni Directory, 4th ed, date=April 1980, publisher=Saint Fidelis, pages=49 {{cite web, last1=Shelly, first1=Nora, title=Meet 22 astronauts with Pennsylvania roots, url=http://www.pennlive.com/news/2017/06/new_astronaut_class_includes_3.html, website=Pennlive.com, date=13 June 2017 , publisher=PENNSYLVANIA REAL-TIME NEWS, access-date=6 October 2017, archive-url=https://archive.today/20200414173538/https://www.pennlive.com/news/2017/06/new_astronaut_class_includes_3.html, archive-date=14 April 2020, url-status=live {{cite web, title=Meet Astronaut Bob Cenker, url=https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/events/events-calendar/2017/march/meet-astronaut-bob-cenker, website=Kennedyspacecenter.com, publisher=NASA, access-date=31 July 2017, 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first2=Kenneth, title=RCA Astro-Electronics Division records, url=http://dla.library.upenn.edu/cocoon/dla/pacscl/ead.pdf?sort=date_added_sort%20desc&fq=top_repository_facet%3A%22Hagley%20Museum%20and%20Library%22&id=PACSCL_HML_246470&, website=dla.library.upenn.edu, publisher=Univ of Penn, access-date=16 February 2018, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180217011633/http://dla.library.upenn.edu/cocoon/dla/pacscl/ead.pdf?sort=date_added_sort%20desc&fq=top_repository_facet%3A%22Hagley%20Museum%20and%20Library%22&id=PACSCL_HML_246470&, archive-date=17 February 2018, page=4 (Biography/History), date=7 April 2017, quote=After GE acquired RCA in 1986, it combined AED with the Spacecraft Operations of its Space Systems Division to form the GE Astro Space Division. The entire division was sold to Martin Marietta in 1993, which in turn merged with Lockheed to form Lockheed Martin in 1995. Soon after the merger, Lockheed Martin announced that they would be closing the former AED facility. In 1998, forty years after its establishment, the RCA Space Center shut down for good., url-status=live {{cite web, last1=Oberg, first1=James, authorlink = James Oberg, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802023618/http://www.jamesoberg.com/glenn.html, archive-date = 2 August 2017 , url-status = live, title=NASA hypes "Glenn Mission" Science, url=http://www.jamesoberg.com/glenn.html, website=www.jamesoberg.com, access-date=4 March 2017 {{cite news, last1=Pincus, first1=Walter, authorlink1=Walter Pincus, title=NASA's Push to Put Citizen in Space Overtook Fully 'Operational' Shuttle, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170802023815/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1986/03/05/nasas-push-to-put-citizen-in-space-overtook-fully-operational-shuttle/29fe2714-39b7-40dd-b15e-073441de636e/, archive-date = 2 August 2017 , url-status = live, 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External links

{{Commons category
STS-61C Press Kit

Space Shuttle Flight 24 (STS-61C) Post Flight Presentation on YouTube
{{Inspace {{authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Cenker, Robert J. 1948 births Living people American astronauts Aerospace engineers People from Uniontown, Pennsylvania Penn State College of Engineering alumni Rutgers University alumni NASA sponsored astronauts Space Shuttle program astronauts RCA people General Electric employees Lockheed Martin people Martin Marietta people Engineers from New Jersey Senior Members of the IEEE Engineers from Pennsylvania