ISS Flight Engineer
Soyuz TMA Flight Engineer
NASA astronaut

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: Born February 1, 1961 in Ridley Park Pennsylvania, but considers Lombard Illinois, to be his hometown.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Glenbard East High School, Lombard, Illinois, in 1979; received a bachelor and a master of science degree in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1984 and 1988, respectively.

MARITAL STATUS: Married to the former Jane Egan.

AWARDS: Orbital Sciences Corporation Outstanding Technical Achievement Award, 1993.

MEMBERSHIP IN ORGANIZATIONS: 
Japanese American Citizens League;
Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity;
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

HOBBIES: golf, flying, running, tennis, music, cooking.

In 1984 he started working at Hughes Aircraft Corporation in El Segundo, California as a design engineer in the Space and Communications group. In 1986, he returned to MIT and received his master’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1988, specializing in human factors and group decision making. After graduation, Tani worked for Bolt Beranek and Newman in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in the experimental psychology department. 
In 1988, Tani joined Orbital Sciences Corporation (OSC) in Dulles Virginia, initially as a senior structures engineer, and then as the mission operations manager for the Transfer Orbit Stage (TOS). During the launch of the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite (ACTS) in the course of Space Shuttle Discovery STS-51 mission in 1993, he served as the TOS flight operations lead, working with the Shuttle Flight Director at MCC-H. 
Tani then moved to the air launched Pegasus unmanned rocket program as the launch operations manager, responsible for the development of launch documentation and also for leading the team of engineers who worked in the control room.
Having completed two years of training and evaluation at Johnson Space Center in 1996-1998, he qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. After that he held technical duties in the Astronaut Office Computer Support Branch. On January 29, 2001 he was assigned to the STS-108 crew. 
He made his first space flight on December 5-17, 2001 as Mission Specialist 2/Flight Engineer (MS-2/FE) of the Shuttle Endeavour STS-108 mission carrying Rafaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. The main objective of the mission was to rotate the crew of the International Space Station and to deliver cargoes for the Expedition-4 crew (ISS-4). In the course of the mission he performed a 4 hours and 12 minutes space walk to wrap thermal blankets around ISS Solar Array Gimbals. The mission duration was 11 days 19 hours 35 minutes and 42 seconds.
He is currently training for ISS-11 as the backup flight engineer and mission specialist of the ISS.

June 2004.
Based on Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center data, NASA, USA.

ISS Flight Engineer-2
NASA Astronaut, USA 

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: Born February 1, 1961 in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, but considers Lombard, Illinois, to be his hometown.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Glenbard East High School, Lombard, 1979; received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1984.
In 1988 he received a master of science degree in mechanical engineering from the same institute.

FAMILY STATUS: Married.
Wife: Jane Egan. They have two children.

ORGANIZATIONS: Member of the Japanese-American Citizen League, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

AWARDS: Orbital Sciences Corporation Outstanding Technical Achievement Award, 1993, for work with the Shuttle flight directors at MCC-H.

HOBBY: Golf, running, tennis, music, cooking.

WORK EXPERIENCE: In 1984 he went to work at Hughes Aircraft Corporation in El Segundo, California as a design engineer in the Space and Communications group.
In 1988 after Tani received his master’s degree in mechanical engineering, he worked in the experimental psychology department for Bolt Beranek and Newman in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Later that year he moved to Orbital Sciences Corporation in Dulles, Virginia, initially as a senior structures engineer, and then as the mission operations manager for the Transfer Orbit Stage (TOS) when launching the ACTS satellite during the STS-51 mission.
In 1994 he was assigned as the launch operations manager under the Pegasus program and served as lead for the development of documentation for launches of the Pegasus unmanned rocket. He led the team of engineers who worked in the launch and control room.
On May 1, 1996 he was selected as the NASA astronaut candidate and passed a two-year course of general space training. Having completed the training course he was qualified as a mission specialist and assigned to the Astronaut Office Computer Support Branch and then he moved to EVA Branch. During Expedition-2 to the ISS he served as a Crew Support Astronaut.
On January 29, 2001 he was assigned to the Shuttle crew (STS-108) as mission-2 specialist.
Tani performed his first spaceflight on December 5-17, 2001 as a mission specialist aboard Endevour (STS-108). The main flight task was the ISS crew rotation and the cargo delivery to the ISS in the Raffaello Module. During the flight he performed one space walk of 4 hours and 12 minutes. The flight duration was 11 days 19 hours 35 minutes.
In January 2004 Tani was assigned as a researcher of the backup crew for Expedition 11 to the ISS (the ISS-11Ä crew) and at the same time he was a researcher of the prime crew for Expedition 13 to the ISS (the ISS-13 crew: Pavel Vinogradov - Daniel Tani - Dmitry Kondratiev).
At the beginning of June 2006 by the joint Roskosmos and NASA decision he was appointed to the ISS-16 prime crew (a launch aboard STS-120, a landing aboard STS-122).
During the second spaceflight which occurred on October 23, 2007 he was mission-5 specialist in the crew aboard Discovery (STS-120) which successfully docked to the ISS on October 25 and Tani continued the spaceflight aboard the ISS as the ISS-16 flight engineer-2.

October 2007.
Based on data of the Cosmonautics News journal and
Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, NASA, USA.