OK, if the title sounds vaguely familiar, you are probably a “child of the 60s” or simply have a thing for old movies. But, no, Sidney Poitier will not be joining us at our Migration banquet dinner on Saturday night. Despite being an incredibly talented actor, Poitier has never reached the heights achieved by our banquet speaker Daniel Bursch.
Who’s Daniel Bursch? Well, before you rush off and google Dan’s name, here are a few phrases you might include in your search: “NASA astronaut”, “over 227 days in space”, “mission specialist on STS-51 (1993), STS-68 (1994) and STS-77 (1996)”, “longest single flight for US astronauts - 196 days”, and “flight engineer on the International Space Station (ISS) Expedition-Four (2001-2002)”. Of course, Dan had a “few” other accomplishments before being launched into outer space. After graduating from the Naval Academy, he served as an A-6E Intruder bombadier/navigator (B/N), flying “backseat” for COPA member Andy Brown. Andy insists that he was the inspiration causing Dan to enter pilot training and eventually fly as Strike Operations Officer officer aboard the USS Long Beach and USS Midway in the Indian Ocean.
Now that Dan is no longer orbiting our planet, he works at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA. And, in his spare time, he serves as a professor in several space systems courses at the school.
