Richard A Mastracchio

Born February 11, 1960 in Waterbury, Connecticut. Married to the former Candace L. Stolfi of Waterbury, Connecticut. They have three children. He enjoys flying, baseball, basketball, swimming, wood working, spending time with his family. His parents, Ralph and Georgiana Mastracchio, reside in Waterbury, Connecticut. Her mother, Helen Cooke, resides in Cheshire, Connecticut.

In 1987, Mastracchio moved to Houston, Texas, to work for the Rockwell Shuttle Operations Company at the Johnson Space Center. In 1990, he joined NASA as an engineer in the Flight Crew Operations Directorate. His duties included the development of space shuttle flight software requirements, the verification of space shuttle flight software in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory, and the development of ascent and abort crew procedures for the Astronaut Office.
From 1993 until 1996, he worked as an ascent/entry Guidance and Procedures Officer (GPO) in Mission Control. An ascent/entry GPO has both pre-mission and real time Space Shuttle support responsibilities in the areas of onboard guidance, navigation, and targeting. During that time, he supported seventeen missions as a flight controller. In April 1996, Mastracchio was selected as an Astronaut Candidate and started training in August 1996. Having completed two years of training and evaluation, he is qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. Currently, Mastracchio is assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Computer Support Branch.