NASA Engineer Supports Launch of SLS Rocket, Family of Five
Every expert who contributes to building the world’s most powerful rocket, NASA’s Space Launch System, won’t be able to be at the launch. Our team steps in to be the “eyes” and “ears” for the engineers and technicians who bring the rocket to life. We make communication possible between the launch site, mission control and those here at home at Marshall.
As a senior systems engineer with the Huntsville Operations Support Center at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, part of my role is to work with the engineers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida designing the Launch Control Center. Support from Earth is necessary for the SLS, the International Space Station and small satellites. Our team provides the systems for ground control teams here at Marshall that support all these space vehicles.
Our team is essential to Exploration Mission-1, the rocket’s first launch, because we create the technical systems that allow technicians and engineers who built every part of the rocket to support the launch from a remote location. We design, develop and integrate the architecture of the operations support center in Huntsville to help things run smoothly before and during launch. From voice communication to high-quality videos to vehicle data, we assist in surveying the health and wellness of the rocket.
After I graduated from University of ITT Technical Institute in Nashville, in 1997, I began my career in Tampa, Florida, working for a contractor designing control systems that support the Missile Defense Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense. I went on to work as a contractor on the shuttle program and moved to Huntsville to work on the Constellation program at Marshall. I started working for COLSA in 2012 and began my role as a senior systems engineer.
Outside of working with rockets, I also run ground control for a beautiful family. I have been married to my wife, Shannon, for 18 years. Our three sons, ages 7, 10 and 12, keep us busy with wrestling, basketball, soccer and baseball. When they aren’t scoring goals and hitting homeruns, we enjoy going on family mission trips with our church to places like Honduras and Haiti. When the SLS rocket soars off the launch pad, my family will be watching, and I’ll be here in Huntsville, keeping things running on the ground so SLS will have a successful first mission.