Selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in June 1987, Runco qualified for assignment as an astronaut mission specialist in August 1988. A veteran of three space flights (
STS-44 in 1991,
STS-54 in 1993, and
STS-77 in 1996), Runco has logged over 551 hours in space which includes a 4.5 hour spacewalk during his STS-54 mission. His technical assignments included serving in Operations Development, where he assisted in the design, development and testing of the
Space Shuttle crew escape system after the
Challenger (
Orbiter Vehicle {OV}-099) accident; in Mission Support, at the
Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL,
OV-095) as a SAIL Commander, performing test and evaluation of Space Shuttle mission-specific flight software; at the
Kennedy Space Center, as an Astronaut Support Person (ASP or "cape Crusader"), where he assisted in preparing Space Shuttle missions for launch supporting missions STS-81, 82, 83, 84, 94, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, & 91, and in the
Johnson Space Center's Mission Control Center as a Capsule (Spacecraft) Communicator (
CAPCOM) supporting missions STS-60, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67, 68, 92, 93, 96, 97, 98, 99, 101, 104, 105, 106, & 109 as the Lead CAPCOM for the last
Hubble Space Telescope repair mission. He was served as an Earth and planetary scientist and the lead for Spacecraft Window Optics and Utilization for the
International Space Station's (ISS's) windows, including the
U.S. Laboratory Destiny Module Nadir Science Window, the
Window Observational Research Facility (WORF), and the ISS's
Cupola windows, all of which he helped design.
Spaceflight STS-44 On his first flight, Runco served as a
Mission Specialist (MS-3) on the crew of
STS-44 aboard the
Space Shuttle ATLANTIS (
OV-104) which launched from the Kennedy Space Center's (KSC's)
launch pad 39A on the night of November 24, 1991. The primary mission objective was accomplished with the successful deployment of a
Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite. In addition, the crew conducted two Military Man-in-Space Earth Observation experiments (M88-1, on which he was the lead, and Terra Scout), three radiation monitoring experiments, and numerous life sciences experiments in support of long duration space flights.
STS-44 was originally scheduled as a 10-day mission; however, the oxygen loading for the mission was not sufficient to last 10 days due to the weight of the primary payload so the crew would need to drastically conserve power to be able to make the oxygen last through the full mission duration. The crew’s power conservation efforts paid off on flight day 6 when it appeared there finally was enough oxygen to last the rest of the mission; however, the mission was cut short as Minimum Duration Flight (MDF) when a second navigational
Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) was powered up for redundancy and immediately failed and (
CAPCOM) and fellow classmate
Jan Davis dejectedly called the Commander
Fred Gregory with the bad news, "“Fred, we’ve run out of ideas on IMU-2. We see problems both with the attitude and the velocity. We have declared IMU-2 failed.”
ATLANTIS (
OV-104) returned with only 2 of 3 IMU’s (#'s 1 and 3) operating to a contingency landing the next day on lakebed runway 05 at
Edwards Air Force Base,
California, on December 1, 1991, completing 110 orbits of the
Earth.
STS-54 Even before launching for his first mission, Runco was assigned as a
Mission Specialist (MS1) to his second flight,
STS-54, which would fly on the
Space Shuttle ENDEAVOUR (
OV-105).
STS-54 launched from KSC’s
launch pad 39B launch pad 39B on January 13, 1993, and landed at the
Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) runway 33 at KSC in
Florida on January 19, 1993, completing 96 orbits of the
Earth. The six-day mission’s primary objective was accomplished with his deployment of a NASA
Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-F) on flight day 1. Also carried in the payload bay was the Diffuse X-Ray Spectrometer (DXS). This astronomical instrument for studying stellar evolution scanned the local vicinity of our
Milky Way galaxy and recorded the low-energy X-ray emanations believed to originate from the plasma remnants of an ancient supernova. Crewmate
Greg Harbaugh (EV1) and Runco (EV2) also became the 47th and 48th Americans to walk in space during a 4.5-hour spacewalk designed to evaluate the limits of human performance during
extravehicular activities (EVA) in anticipation of the construction of the ISS. Included in these EVA evaluations was the first and only attempt thus far at ingressing a personal foot restraint (PFR) without the use of handholds, which Runco accomplished successfully and is still the only person to have done so. Of Runco, his spacewalking crew mate commented, “Mario was the most naturally skilled EVA guy I ever saw. He moved with ease and was able to accomplish everything he was challenged to do. He ingressed the Personal Foot Restraint (PFR) without handholds, a task ground controllers were taking bets on as to whether it could be accomplished or not, look like he’d done it his whole life, and even did it a second time when disbelieving ground controllers asked him to do it again, which he did. Early in the EVA, he even caught a small tool case when it came loose after my tether hook failed to close (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it) as we were transferring the tool items we needed to take with us from the payload bay’s EVA tool box or Personnel Support Assembly (PSA) to our portable mini-work stations. Mario had large strong hands, which are a huge asset for EVA, and he was a hockey player so he had tremendous endurance. I find it curious that he never got a chance to display his skills on HST or ISS.” Lastly, in what was called the "Physics of Toys In Space", which has since become a popular children's educational video, the crew also demonstrated how everyday toys behave in space to an interactive audience of elementary school students across the United States. Mission duration was 5 days, 23 hours and 38 minutes.
STS-77 On his last mission he served as a
Mission Specialist (MS-3) on the crew of
STS-77 aboard the
Space Shuttle ENDEAVOUR (
OV-105). Launching from KSC’s
launch pad 39B on May 19, 1996,
STS-77 carried a number of technology development experiments as well as a suite of
microgravity science experiments.
STS-77 also featured the fourth flight of a
SpaceHab module, in this case a double module, as an experiment laboratory carried in ENDEAVOUR’s payload bay. The technology development experiments included two deployable satellites both of which were deployed by Runco. For the deploy of the Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy (SPARTAN)-207/
Inflatable Antenna Experiment Runco was the
Remote Manipulator System (Robotic Arm) operator. The other deployable was a small Satellite Test Unit (STU) which was designed to use the drag from the rarified atmosphere present in low Earth orbit and the Earth’s
magnetic field for attitude control and stabilization. His foresight in having high resolution and low light level photography equipment and a high intensity spotlight added to the mission’s suite of photography equipment and insisting that a second overhead window rather than a blank be installed in the second of the twin
SpaceHab modules, salvaged this experiment when its laser Attitude Measuring System (AMS), also installed in the payload bay, failed shortly after deploy of the satellite. He used these assets and his photographic expertise to capture video of the STU as Endeavour tracked and flew astern of it for several days. Principal investigators were able to use the video retrieved by Runco in lieu of the AMS data to complete their evaluations. A clip from this video of the STU have even been posted on the internet as proof of the existence of
UFO’s. He also captured some additional "Physics of Toys" scenes for a sequel to the original
STS-54 educational video and subsequently made several appearances on the children’s television show
Sesame Street (Episodes 3696**, 3698, 3731, 3776, and 3785) in 1998 for the “Slimey to the Moon” series during Season 29 (1997-98).
STS-77 landed at KSC’s
SLF runway 33 on May 29, 1996, completing 161 orbits of the
Earth. Mission duration was 10 days and 39 minutes.
Post-spaceflight Upon leaving the astronaut office, Runco became the
JSC lead for spacecraft window optics and utilization endeavouring to have optical quality windows installed in the
ISS and all future spacecraft. As such, he assisted with the design of the ISS’s
U.S. Laboratory Destiny Module Nadir Science Window and
Cupola Windows. He also was a key designer of the
WORF installed over the
Destiny science window and was a co-principal investigator on the
University of North Dakota’s ISS Agricultural Camera (ISS AgCam/ISSAC), which operated from the
WORF. In addition, he helped with the design and facilitated the integration of several other
WORF payloads including
EarthKAM,
IMAX for the filming of
Toni Myers’ last film, “
A Beautiful Planet",
Nanoracks, ISS SERVIR Environmental Research and Visualization System (I-SERV), and
Chiba University’s (
Japan) “Meteor” observation study. ==Personal life==