NAME:  Mario Runco, Jr. (Lieutenant Commander, USN)
       NASA Astronaut
 
BIRTHPLACE AND DATE:  January 26, 1952, in the Bronx, New York, but considers
Yonkers, New York, to be his hometown.  His parents, Mario & Filomena Runco,
reside in Yonkers.
 
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION:  Brown hair; hazel eyes; 6 feet; 155 pounds.
 
EDUCATION:  Graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School, Bronx, New York, in
1970; received a bachelor of science degree in Meteorology and Physical
Oceanography from the City College of New York in 1974, and a master of science
degree in Meteorology from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, in
1976.
 
MARITAL STATUS:  Married to the former Susan Kay Friess of Sylvania, Ohio.  Her
parents Frederick & Margaret Friess, reside in Sylvania.
 
RECREATIONAL INTERESTS: He enjoys ice hockey, softball, racquet ball, snow
skiing, camping, hiking, and astronomy.  He played intercollegiate ice hockey
on the City College of New York and Rutgers University teams.
 
SPECIAL HONORS:  Awarded the Navy Achievement Medal, Navy Battle Efficiency
Ribbon, Sea Service Deployment Ribbon with Bronze Star, and the Navy Pistol
Expert Medal.  As an undergraduate, he was awarded the City College of New York
Class of 1938 Athletic Service Award (1973).
 
EXPERIENCE: After graduating from Rutgers University, Runco worked for a year
as a research hydrologist conducting ground water surveys for the U.S.
Geological Survey on Long Island, New York.  In 1977, he joined the New Jersey
State Police and, after completing training at the New Jersey State Police
Academy, he worked as a New Jersey State Trooper until he entered the Navy in
June 1978.  Upon completion of Navy Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode
Island, in September 1978, he was commissioned and assigned to the Naval
Environmental Prediction Research Facility in Monterey, California, as a
research meteorologist to develop tactical environmental support decision
aids.  From April 1981 to December 1983 he served as Geophysics Officer aboard
the Amphibious Assault Ship USS NASSAU (LHA-4).  It was during this tour of
duty that he earned the designation as a Naval Surface Warfare Officer. In
January 1984, he was assigned to the Naval Oceanography Command Detachment on
the campus of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, where he
was an instructor at the Navy Geophysics Technical Readiness Laboratory. In
December 1985, he assumed command of Oceanographic Unit Four, embarked in the
Naval Survey Vessel USNS CHAUVENET (T-AGS 29), to conduct hydrographic and
oceanographic surveys of the Java Sea and Indian Ocean. After his tour as
Commanding Officer of Oceanographic Unit Four, he reported to the Naval Western
Oceanography Center, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where he was assigned as Fleet
Environmental Services Officer until his selection to the astronaut program.
 
NASA EXPERIENCE:  Selected by NASA in June 1987, Runco qualified for subsequent
assignment as a mission specialist on future Space Shuttle flight crews in
August of 1988.  His technical assignments to date include having served in
Operations Development, where he assisted in the design, development and
testing of the Space Shuttle crew escape system; in Mission Support, at the
Software Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), where he performed test and
evaluation of Space Shuttle mission flight software; and at the Kennedy Space
Center, as astronaut support, where he assisted in preparing Space Shuttle
missions for launch.
 
Runco was a mission specialist on STS-44 aboard Atlantis which launched the
night of November 24, 1991.  The primary mission objective was accomplished
with the successful deployment of a Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite
with an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) rocket booster.  In addition, the crew
conducted two Military Man in Space experiments, three radiation monitoring
experiments, and numerous medical tests to support longer duration Shuttle
flights.  The mission was concluded in 110 orbits of the Earth with Atlantis
returning to a landing on the lakebed at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on
December 1, 1991.  With the completion of his first mission, Runco has logged
over 166 hours in space.
 
CURRENT ASSIGNMENT:  Lt. Cdr. Runco will serve as a mission specialist on the
crew of STS-54, scheduled for launch in early 1993 to launch a Tracking and
Data Relay Satellite and to conduct deep space x-ray astronomy.
 
JANUARY 1992