Former astronaut Dan Bursch in the Joint Airlock module prior to leaving the International Space Station for a spacewalk in February 2002. Photo courtesy of NASA.

Former Astronaut Dan Bursch Joins Aerospace

MONTEREY, Calif. (9/30/05) -- Newsworthy events in 1969 included the first flight of the Boeing 747, the last public performance by the Beatles, and the first manned moon landing. It was this last event that made a bigger impression on former astronaut Dan Bursch than he realized.

For Bursch, who joined Aerospace in July, the moment was remarkable at the time but soon forgotten. He was just 12 years old then and preoccupied by the present. Little did he know that the career path he would take would one day lead him to become an astronaut himself. “I remember being at summer camp and listening to a broadcaster describing the moon landing,” Bursch said. “It was a neat thing but not something I thought about again until years later when I graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy.”

Astronaut Years

Bursch received a bachelor of science degree in physics from the academy in 1979, completed the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1983 as a test flight officer, and received a master of science degree in engineering science from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) in Monterey, Calif., in 1991.

While completing his graduate work at NPS he was selected by NASA for the astronaut program and became an astronaut in 1991. Bursch has made four trips into space aboard various space shuttles, logging more than 227 days in space. He and former astronaut Carl Walz share the U.S. single space flight endurance record of 196 days in space.

Of his experiences as an astronaut Bursch said one of the most memorable was his first view of Earth while climbing to final altitude on his first mission. “I remember the pilot telling me to come look at something as he stuck my face in the window to see Earth,” said Bursch. “It was an amazing view—you had to pinch yourself to believe it.”

Plans for the space shuttle program, he said, call for the shuttle to be retired in 2010. The shuttle is expected to be replaced by the Crew Exploration Vehicle, which will take astronauts to the Moon and beyond. The future vehicle, Bursch said, will probably carry the crew separately from the payload. It won’t have the flexibility, he said, of the shuttle, which Burschrefers to as a “space truck” in reference to its ability to carry a variety of payloads along with the crew.

Bursch remains optimistic about space exploration in the years ahead. The need for humans to explore new frontiers is innate, he said. And the benefits, he said, will be worth it.

Bursch said he sees space travel as a catalyst for the development of more advanced technologies such as the mining of helium-3 from the Moon’s surface for nuclear fusion reactions. Space travel, he believes, will also lead to the development of closed-loop environments where atmospheric components such as the carbon dioxide produced when theastronauts exhale is reused to grow food for them to eat while in space.

“Right now, a lot of the resources we are looking at to be a part of the closed-loop environment are thrown away,” Bursch said. “I think we can develop environmental systems for space and here on Earth that will benefit the world.”

Aerospace Experience

As a senior project engineer in The Aerospace Corporation’s Tactical Development and Acquisition Directorate, Electronic Programs Division, National Systems Group, Bursch keeps close to the field of space as he works with students at NPS.

He is the prospective National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) chair at NPS. While the school offers a diverse number of degree programs, Bursch will be involved with space-related activities in support of national security space, and specifically, the NRO. The primary duty of the chair is to facilitate interchange of advanced degree-seeking officers and technical research of interest to the NRO.

To fulfill these requirements, Bursch will act in a variety of capacities to include thesisadvisement, support to symposia and seminars, and assisting students with projects involving satellite design.

Aerospace also supports an NRO chair position at the Air Force Institute of Technology at Dayton, Ohio. It is filled by Dr. Brad Ayres. Bursch and Ayres will work to increase cooperation between the schools and identify areas where each institution can support NRO research.

“I am proud to be a new member of the Aerospace family,” said Bursch. “I continue to discover many connections that Aerospace has had throughout my career and, in fact, have ecently discovered that [Dr.] Karen Scott, Engineering and Technology Group, was involved with the evaluation and testing of the Centerline Berthing Camera System for the International Space Station (ISS). She also has been involved with the development and calibration of the Destiny module window and research facility.

“The camera system has been a key enabler in the construction of the ISS and the module window is the best view of the Earth that we have on the space station,” said Bursch.

The Aerospace Corporation is an independent, nonprofit company that provides objective technical analyses and assessments for national security space programs and selected civil and commercial space programs in the national interest.