Rod Rippey
Title: Lead, Command and Data Handling
Education: University of Virginia Electrical Engineering
How did I get into space: My parents tell me that when I was 3 I already had a fascination with space. That year there was a visible comet, and one evening I got up from the dinner table, against family rules, and announced I was going to see the comet. My first recollection of being fascinated by space was when I was about 5 or 6 and my dad bought my brothers and me Estes model rockets. From that point on I was all in with space. When I was in college there was a startup company in Northern Virginia called Orbital Sciences Corporation. I decided to see if I could get a college internship there, and the rest is history.
Favorite planet: Mars. I hope I live long enough to see humans put boot prints on another planet.
Hobbies outside of work: Rock climbing, astrophotography, hiking, boating, backpacking, watersports
BIO: I started my career fresh out of college at Orbital Sciences Corporation (now Northrop Grumman). I spent about 10 years working on a variety of launch vehicles and spacecraft, including Taurus, Pegasus, X-34, and Orbview-2. Following that I spent a number of years working for ArgonST (now Boeing) working on Radio Frequency (RF) receivers for the Navy. During this time I had the opportunity to spend a week onboard a Navy submarine. Eventually I decided it was time to get back to my aerospace roots, and joined SSI in 2018.
