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 List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

and a veteran of two

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, 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. ...

missions. Burbank, a

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

in the

United States Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and Admiralty law, law enforcement military branch, service branch of the armed forces of the United States. It is one of the country's eight Uniformed services ...

, is the second Coast Guard astronaut after Bruce Melnick.

Early life and education

Burbank was born in

Manchester, Connecticut Manchester is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the town had a total population of 59,713 ...

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

Fairfield University Fairfield University is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit university in Fairfield, Connecticut. It was founded by the Jesuits in 1942. In 2023, the university had about 5,000 full-time undergraduate students and 1,200 gra ...

his freshman year before transferring to the

United States Coast Guard Academy The United States Coast Guard Academy (USCGA), located in New London, Connecticut, is the United States service academies, U.S. service academy specifically for the United States Coast Guard. Founded in 1876, the academy provides education t ...

, 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. 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 agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

in April 1996, Burbank reported to the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight controller, flight control are conducted. ...

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 a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(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, where he taught astronomy, aerodynamics, and statics & engineering design. Burbank was assigned to ISS Expedition 29 and Expedition 30 aboard ISS beginning September 2011.

Spaceflight experience

STS-106 STS-106 was a 2000 Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle ''Atlantis''. Crew Spacewalks * '' Lu and Malenchenko '' – EVA 1 *EVA 1 Start: 11 September 2000 – 04:47 UTC *EVA 1 End: 11 Septembe ...

''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

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

s 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 was performed to connect power and data cables between the newly arrived Service Module and the ISS.

STS-115 STS-115 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by . It was the first assembly mission to the ISS after the ''Columbia'' disaster, following the two successful ''Return to Flight'' missions, STS-114 and STS- ...

''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, Anatoli Ivanishin and Burbank on November 13, 2011, arriving at the station on November 16, 2011 via Soyuz TMA-22. This expedition spent 66 days in space. Expedition 29 officially ended with the undocking of Soyuz TMA-02M on 21 November 2011. Expedition 30 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.

Post-NASA career

Burbank retired from NASA in June 2018. In 2022, he returned to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy to teach mechanical engineering as a Professor of Practice.

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", and a former member of The Idlers. He is a licensed

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

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