Faces of SLS: Gordie Russell, manager of the Orbital ATK Program Management Office at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center

By far, the coolest part of my job is the daily face-to-face interaction with our NASA customer. While representing my company in Huntsville, I also really love that I am right next door to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. I’m able to represent Orbital ATK at many youth education activities and also spend volunteer hours empowering and inspiring Space Camp students about space travel and all the possibilities that they have in their future.

The achievement I am most proud of while working the SLS program has to be writing and compiling the SLS Rocket Motor Verification Plan that lays out all the detailed verification activities – including test, analysis, demonstration and similarity — to confirm that the new five-segment motor is qualified for flight.

I first started working for Orbital ATK on the Space Shuttle Program, and continued to work as a design engineer in the transition from shuttle to the SLS Program. At first I helped make design changes to the insulation materials on the shuttle program, and from there I supported the development of the SLS solid rocket insulation designs.

I have loved math, science and space since I was a kid. My mother tells me I was always well-organized and loved counting, a talent that continues to help me today as an engineer. She said I used to have a checkered bed comforter where I would dump out my piggy bank and neatly place a coin in each square on the comforter and then count all the money. As I grew up, I decided to obtain a chemical engineering degree, and upon graduation I could have chosen to work in the oil and gas industry or the aerospace industry. Since I loved space, I chose the latter and was blessed with a great opportunity to work on the space shuttle solid rocket motors.

I grew up in Broomfield, Colorado, and attended college in Golden, Colorado, where I graduated from the Colorado School of Mines.

For someone interested in pursuing a similar path as mine, I would first say you need to learn perseverance. Too often I have seen young people give up too easily when things don’t turn out the way they expect. Failures can seriously be our best learning opportunities. I would not be where I am if today if everything worked out as I had initially planned. Secondly I would advise people to balance their lives. Everyone has a different level of balance, and you need to be able to work hard but also know when you need to take time to relax and rest.