Erik Denson is chief electrical engineer in the Engineering Directorate at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He began his career with NASA in March 1990.
His responsibilities include overseeing the design, development, installation and verification of the electrical ground systems and subsystems for the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System. He also serves as the technical authority for Electrical Specifications and Standards.
When he’s not working, Denson helps to inspire students to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics by serving as a mentor and science fair judge. In February, he served as a judge for the Brevard Intracoastal Science Fair, judging entries from junior high and high school students. He also gives presentations to local schools and supports NASA outreach activities as a member of Kennedy Space Center’s Speakers Bureau.
Denson’s hometown is Hempstead, New York. He is a 1983 graduate of Hempstead High School. He earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Howard University in Washington, D.C., in 1988. He went on to earn his master’s in electrical engineering in 1990 from Polytechnic University in Brooklyn, New York.
He holds memberships in the National Engineering Honor Society (Tau Beta Pi) and the National Association of Black Engineers.
Denson has received several honors from NASA, including an Exceptional Service Medal, Equal Opportunity Award and multiple group achievement awards. On March 22, 1995, he received the coveted NASA Silver Snoopy award for his work on the center’s Paging Area and Warning Systems. NASA astronaut Steve Smith was on hand to give him the award.
Denson also is an accomplished diver. He has an interest in underwater research and is a member of the Diving With a Purpose Maritime Archaeology Program. In August 2015, Denson joined seven other expert underwater archaeologists to survey the wreckage of Lt. Frank Moody’s P-36 fighter aircraft in Lake Huron, north of the city of Port Huron, Michigan. Moody was a Tuskegee pilot from Castle, Oklahoma, who was killed during a training exercise in 1944.
“Our base of operations was the Port Huron Coast Guard Station,” Denson said. The mission objectives were straightforward and included documenting the aircraft wreckage in its entirety, inventorying and photographing all of the associated aircraft parts, munitions and artifacts. This mission not only documented the site of the accident, but paid tribute to Lt. Frank Moody and all the Tuskegee Airmen of WW II.”
His parents are Helen and Arthur Denson, of Hempstead, New York. Denson is married to Aubra (nee Wilson) Denson, of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
“Working for NASA and traveling among the stars has been a dream of mine since I was a small child,” Denson said. “Knowing that I’m playing a small role in a goal that one day will allow us to walk on other planets is a dream fulfilled.”
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Amber Philman
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
321-861-0370
amber.n.philman@nasa.gov