Mario Runco Jr.

At 72 years old, Mario Runco Jr. physical status not available right now. We will update Mario Runco Jr.'s height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Working at various positions even through his school years, Runco worked continuously from age nine until his retirement on December 31, 2017, eventually accumulating 57 years of continuous employment and almost 48 years of federal service with four different federal agencies (USPOD/USPS, USGS, USN, and NASA). After graduating from Rutgers University, he worked for a year as a research hydrologist conducting ground water surveys for the United States Geological Survey on Long Island, New York. In 1977, he joined the New Jersey State Police and, after completing training at the State Police Academy, he worked as a New Jersey State Trooper until he entered the United States 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 Oceanographic and Atmospheric Research Laboratory then known as the Naval Environmental Prediction Research Facility (NEPRF) in Monterey, California as a research meteorologist. From April 1981 to December 1983, he served as the Meteorological Officer aboard the amphibious assault ship USS NASSAU [LHA-4]. It was during this tour of duty that he earned his designation as a Naval Surface Warfare Officer. From January 1984 to December 1985, he worked as a laboratory instructor at the Naval Postgraduate School, specifically the Geophysics Technical Readiness Laboratory, in Monterey, California. From December 1985 to December 1986, he served as Commanding Officer of Oceanographic Unit 4 embarked in the naval survey vessel USNS CHAUVENET [T-AGS-29], conducting hydrographic and oceanographic surveys of the Makassar and Sunda Straits and the Flores and Java Seas, Indonesia. His last assignment within the Navy before being assigned to NASA was as Fleet Environmental Services Officer at the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command's Naval Western Meteorology and Oceanography Center, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. He joined NASA in 1987 and remained on active duty as a NASA astronaut until 1994 after which he continued his NASA career as a civilian astronaut until his retirement.

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