posted 07-21-2015 08:10 PM               

Astronaut Tony Antonelli departs NASA after 15 years

Two-time space shuttle pilot Tony Antonelli has departed from NASA. His last day with the agency was July 10.

"Tony was a major contributor to our office," said Chris Cassidy, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center. "His skills and expertise were extremely valuable to our exploration and Space Launch System engineering team. We wish him the best in his future pursuits."

Antonelli was born in Detroit and grew up in Indiana and North Carolina. He holds degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and the University of Washington in Seattle. A retired captain in the U.S. Navy, he has accumulated more than 3,200 hours in 41 different kinds of aircraft and has completed 273 carrier-arrested landings.

NASA selected him as an astronaut in 2000. A veteran of two space flights, Antonelli has logged a total of 24 days, 3 hours, 57 minutes in space. He first flew on STS-119 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in March 2009. The flight delivered the Starboard Integrated Truss Segment and the final pair of power-generating solar array wings to the International Space Station. His second mission was on Atlantis for STS-132 in May 2010. The mission delivered an Integrated Cargo Carrier and a Russian-built Mini Research Module to the station.