10 Facts About Ronald Parise

Ronald Anthony Parise was an Italian American scientist who flew aboard two NASA Space Shuttle missions as a payload specialist.

Ronald Parise attended Western Reserve High School, graduating in 1969 before attending Youngstown State University.

Ronald Parise went on to receive a master's degree in 1977 and a doctorate in 1979 from the University of Florida, both in astronomy.

Ronald Parise died from a brain tumor on May 9,2008, at the age of 56.

Ronald Parise's responsibilities involved flight hardware and software development, electronic system design, and mission planning activities for the UIT project.

At the completion of the Astro program, Ronald Parise assumed an advanced planning and communications engineering support role for a variety of human space flight projects including Mir, International Space Station, and the X-38.

Ronald Parise engaged in a number of astronomical research projects utilizing data from ground-based observatories, the Copernicus satellite, IUE, and the Astro observatory.

Ronald Parise served as a payload specialist aboard STS-35 in 1990 and STS-67 in 1995.

Ronald Parise was involved with projects in the Advanced Architectures and Automation Branch that developed the use of standard Internet Protocols in space data transmission applications.

Ronald Parise was instrumental in bringing amateur radio equipment to the Shuttle and operated on the air during his own missions.