Bruce Edward Melnick (born December 5, 1949) is a retired American astronaut and United States Coast Guard officer.

He logged over 5,000 hours flying time, predominantly in the HH-3F Pelican, HH-52 Sea Guard, HH-65 Dolphin, and T-38 Talon aircraft.

[3]: 1  The primary goal of the mission was to deploy the Ulysses spacecraft[3]: 1  in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), which observed the Sun's activity across different latitudes.

[5] Additionally, STS-41 conducted experiments like the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet Instrument (SSBUV), which studied Earth's upper atmosphere,[6] investigations into polymer membrane production (IPMP),[3]: 1  Chromosome and Plant Cell Division in Space (CHROMEX),[3]: 1  and more.

The STS-41 mission concluded with the successful landing of Discovery at Edwards Air Force Base, Runway 22, on October 10, 1990, at 13:57:19 UTC.

[8]: 1 The primary mission objective involved a series of spacewalks aimed at capturing and repairing the stranded Intelsat VI satellite.

Melnick was formerly the Boeing Company vice president, also at the space center, for the payload ground operations contract with NASA, with 1,600 employees.

The contract included all the engineering and facilities support and maintenance activities related to preparing spacecraft and/or payloads for the space shuttle missions prior to launch and after landing.