Robert J. Cenker
Encyclopedia
Robert Joseph Cenker is an engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

 and aerospace systems consultant who flew aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-61-C
STS-61-C
-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Orbiter liftoff: **Orbiter landing: **Payload: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 28.5°*Period: 91.2 min-Mission background:...

 as Payload Specialist
Payload Specialist
A Payload Specialist ' was an individual selected and trained by commercial or research organizations for flights of a specific payload on a NASA Space Shuttle mission...

 for RCA.

Personal

Born November 5, 1948 and raised near Uniontown, Pennsylvania
Uniontown, Pennsylvania
Uniontown is a city in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, southeast of Pittsburgh and part of the Pittsburgh Metro Area. Population in 1900, 7,344; in 1910, 13,344; in 1920, 15,692; and in 1940, 21,819. The population was 10,372 at the 2010 census...

. Married to Barbara Ann (Cosentino) Cenker. They have two sons named Daniel and Brian and one daughter named Laura.

Education

  • Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Aerospace Engineering from Penn State
  • Master's degree in Electrical Engineering
    Electrical engineering
    Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...

     from Rutgers

Organizations

  • Associate Fellow in the AIAA
  • Senior Member of the IEEE
  • Life Member of the Penn State Alumni Association
  • Life Member of the Association of Space Explorers
    Association of Space Explorers
    The Association of Space Explorers is a non-profit organization with a membership composed of people who have completed at least one Earth orbit in space . It was founded in 1985, and the current membership stands at 320 from 34 different countries...

  • Registered Professional Engineer in the state of New Jersey
    New Jersey
    New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

  • Tau Beta Pi
    Tau Beta Pi
    The Tau Beta Pi Association is the oldest engineering honor society in the United States and the second oldest collegiate honor society in America. It honors engineering students who have shown a history of academic achievement as well as a commitment to personal and professional integrity...

  • Sigma Gamma Tau
    Sigma Gamma Tau
    Sigma Gamma Tau is the American honor society in Aerospace Engineering. It seeks to identify and recognize achievement and excellence in the Aerospace field...


Career

Cenker currently consults with various firms in the areas of spacecraft design, assembly, and flight operations, and micro-gravity research. This has included launch vehicle evaluation and systems engineering support for Motorola
Motorola
Motorola, Inc. was an American multinational telecommunications company based in Schaumburg, Illinois, which was eventually divided into two independent public companies, Motorola Mobility and Motorola Solutions on January 4, 2011, after losing $4.3 billion from 2007 to 2009...

 on Iridium
Iridium
Iridium is the chemical element with atomic number 77, and is represented by the symbol Ir. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum family, iridium is the second-densest element and is the most corrosion-resistant metal, even at temperatures as high as 2000 °C...

; avionics architecture, generation of performance specification, and generation of performance map for small expendable launch vehicle; and constellation configuration and launch vehicle performance definition for proprietary smallsat communications system. Last two years with RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...

 were spent as Manager of Payload Accommodations on EOS Platform. Prior assignments at RCA included Integration and Test Manager for the Satcom D & E spacecraft, responsible for implementation of all launch site activities, and Spacecraft Bus Manager on the Spacenet/Gstar programs, responsible for satisfaction of multiple launch vehicle interfaces (Delta, STS and Ariane) by the spacecraft bus design. Other efforts include systems engineering and operations support for INTELSAT on Intelsat K and Intelsat VIII; AT&T on Telstar 401 and 402; Fairchild Matra on SPAS III; and Martin Marietta on Astra 1B, BS3N, ACTS, and Series 7000 communications satellites. Systems engineering and architecture for various spacecraft studies, ranging from individual Smallsats, military communications constellations, and large, assembled-in-orbit platforms.

Former member of the technical staff at the RCA/GE Astro Space Division. In 18 years with GE
Gê are the people who spoke Ge languages of the northern South American Caribbean coast and Brazil. In Brazil the Gê were found in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Piaui, Mato Grosso, Goias, Tocantins, Maranhão, and as far south as Paraguay....

 (formerly RCA) he worked in a variety of functions, including satellite attitude control and in-orbit operations; spacecraft assembly, test, and pre-launch operations; and satellite hardware and system design. Approximately two years of this experience were with a Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 navigation satellite program, with the remaining time spent on various commercial communications satellite efforts.

Spaceflight experience

Selected by RCA as a Payload Specialist
Payload Specialist
A Payload Specialist ' was an individual selected and trained by commercial or research organizations for flights of a specific payload on a NASA Space Shuttle mission...

; and approved by NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

 to fly on the space shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...

 Columbia
Space Shuttle Columbia
Space Shuttle Columbia was the first spaceworthy Space Shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet. First launched on the STS-1 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle program, it completed 27 missions before being destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 near the end of its 28th, STS-107. All seven crew...

on Space Shuttle Mission STS-61-C
STS-61-C
-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Orbiter liftoff: **Orbiter landing: **Payload: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 28.5°*Period: 91.2 min-Mission background:...

. During the six-day mission, (January 12 to 18, 1986) he performed a variety of physiological tests, observed the deployment of the RCA Satcom Ku-1 satellite, and operated primary experiment, an infrared imaging camera. In completing this flight, Cenker traveled over 2.1 million miles in 96 Earth orbits and logged over 146 hours in space.

External links

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