Seeing Challenger explode in real-time changed my life.

It was 1986 and some friends and I had gathered in the Auburn Student Center to watch. Two years later, I landed my dream job as an engineer at NASA. Three decades later, I left.

While there, I worked on a bunch of different projects: from liquid rocket motor full-scale testing, real-time flight controller operations for Spacelab and ISS, Old Space vehicle design and development (ISS Nodes, Constellation, Upper Stage, SLS), New Space vehicle design and development (Commercial Crew Program aborts for SpaceX Dragon and Boeing Starliner), and Human Landing System requirements for SpaceX and Blue Origin concepts.

Some of my most enjoyable time inside NASA was serving as a voting member on two different Source Evaluation Boards (SEBs). During these competitive procurements, I got to see firsthand how NASA awards billion-dollar contracts and does business.

I also worked at the Kennedy Space Center for a short time in the SSME Chief Engineer office and at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. for one year on a career development assignment. I was at NASA Headquarters on 9/11.

One of my final assignments at NASA was serving on a Flight Hardware Investigation Panel. This four-person team was tasked with determining why a multi-million dollar piece of flight hardware wouldn’t fit through the mounting hole when it arrived onboard the International Space Station.

I enjoy taking complex ideas and making them simple. I enjoy learning something new. I’ve written three books about motorcycling, enjoy a good IPA and hunting for hard-to-find bourbons, and love playing pickleball with folks older than me. I wish I could say I enjoy running, but I don’t. I mostly do that so I can eat more.

Contact me by messaging me on LinkedIn or connecting via email.

david@nasaology.com

—David

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