Daniel M. Tani

Daniel Tani is exactly the sort of person I think deserves more public recognition than he gets. An American engineer and NASA astronaut, MIT-educated, he spent real time on the International Space Station and, alongside Peggy Whitson, conducted the station's 100th spacewalk. That milestone alone gives me pause, because spacewalks are among the most demanding and dangerous tasks anyone can perform. Born in Ridley Park but claiming Lombard, Illinois, as home, he earned a NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 2008. I see him as one of those quietly heroic technical minds who make the headline missions actually function.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Name (English)

Daniel M. Tani

Name (Japanese)

ダニエル・M・タニ

Reading

だにえる・M・たに

Born

February 1, 1961 (age 65)

Origin

Ridley Park, Pennsylvania, United States

Occupation

astronaut / engineer

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Aquarius / Ox

High school

Glenbard East High School

Awards & achievements

• Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration"
• 2008 NASA Distinguished Service Medal

• Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel%20M.%20Tani
• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%80%E3%83%8B%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BBM%E3%83%BB%E3%82%BF%E3%83%8B
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q375631

Tags

• Pennsylvania
• astronaut
• engineer

Last updated

November 2, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.