Astronaut Jim Voss to Lead Engineering for New Space Company
Veteran astronaut James S. Voss has accepted an appointment as Vice President for Space Exploration Systems at Transformational Space Corporation LLC (t/Space).
Mr. Voss’ experience spans the U.S. Space Shuttle, the Russian Soyuz and the International Space Station – a total of five space flights and 202 days on orbit. He has performed four spacewalks logging 22 hours of extra vehicular activity. A retired U.S. Army colonel and NASA astronaut, he has 30 years of operational and management experience, including military flight testing.
“Having flown in both U.S. and Russian spacecraft, I’m excited about using my experience to help t/Space create a private-sector spaceship that will be safe and affordable,” said Mr. Voss.
In his last service with NASA, Mr. Voss was Deputy for Flight Operations in the Space Station Program Mission Integration and Operations Office. More recently, he was Associate Dean of Engineering at Auburn University where he taught classes on spacecraft design.
Last week, t/Space unveiled an engineering mockup of its proposed Crew Transfer Vehicle (CXV) in Arlington, VA at the International Space Development Conference presented by the National Space Society. It featured a lightweight crew seat designed by an Auburn University research team led by Mr. Voss. The research was funded by an educational grant from t/Space.
“Jim’s hands-on experience with human space flight already is producing breakthroughs for our company, as shown by the crew seat his team designed that weighs less than 10% of the Space Shuttle seat,” said David Gump, president of t/Space. “Having an astronaut who has flown in space on the Shuttle, Soyuz, and International Space Station directly in charge of design, safety, and operability will help t/Space usher in the era of personal human space flight.”
NASA awarded t/Space a $3 million contract in September 2004 to assist the space agency in developing its Moon-Mars exploration plans, and to begin design of a Crew Exploration Vehicle. One of eight companies that won “Concept Exploration and Refinement” contracts, t/Space was one of only two to be awarded a full $3 million six-month option in March 2005.
About t/Space
Transformational Space Corporation LLC is an entrepreneurial space company developing vehicles for the Vision for Space Exploration. Contractors on the t/Space team include: Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites Inc., which made history recently by rocketing the first civilian pilot into suborbital space aboard SpaceShipOne; and AirLaunch LLC, which is under contract with the Defense Department to develop a low-cost responsive launch vehicle.
More information about t/Space can be found at www.transformspace.com.
