Firefly Aerospace, Inc. (Firefly), a developer of orbital launch vehicles for the small to medium satellite market, announced today that Leslie Kovacs has joined Firefly as Vice President of Business Development. Kovacs has over 30 years of space launch industry experience, most recently at United Launch Alliance (ULA) as Director of Executive Branch affairs where he helped shape federal policy and acquisition approaches for the $57B Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. Kovacs will be based in Firefly’s Washington D.C. office.
“Les adds an extraordinary depth of experience to our team,” said Firefly CEO Dr. Tom Markusic. “He has hands-on launch experience working as an Air Force Space Operations Officer and as an operations manager for Orbital Science’s X-34 and Antares vehicles. Combined with his extensive experience working with the White House, NASA and the Departments of Commerce and Defense, Les brings capabilities and knowledge of Washington executive branch, regulation and procurement affairs to Firefly that are key to supporting our global business development strategy.”
Additional notable accomplishments in Kovacs’ career include acting as a launch controller at Cape Canaveral, developing architectures for Lunar and Martian surface habitation, leading concept of operations efforts for launch vehicles to replace the Space Shuttle and developing the United States Air Force “Spacelift” course, where he instructed classes in orbital mechanics, launch vehicle design and range and flight safety operations.
Dr. Max Polyakov, Firefly Co-founder, said, “We have assembled a world class team at Firefly and we will continue to aggressively hire top tier individuals as we prepare for our first launch in the third quarter of 2019. We welcome Les to the Firefly family with the knowledge that his extensive experience will further accelerate Firefly’s business development.”
“We are witnessing the transition of space to commercial enterprise. From populating large satellite constellations to the commercialization of cislunar space, the moon and beyond, Firefly is uniquely situated to provide reliable and economical access to space for this burgeoning industry through its Alpha and Beta launch vehicles,” said Leslie Kovacs. “I’m excited to join Firefly in pursuit of our shared vision of ‘Making Space for Everyone’.”
ABOUT FIREFLY AEROSPACE
Firefly is developing a family of launch vehicles to provide industry-leading affordability, convenience and reliability for dedicated light to medium lift launches. Firefly’s Alpha and Beta vehicles utilize common technologies, manufacturing infrastructure and launch capabilities, providing LEO launch solutions for up to one and four metric tons of payload respectively. Alpha and Beta will provide the space industry with access to frequent launches at the lowest cost/kg, enabling ambitious commercial and exploration missions from LEO to the Moon. Headquartered in Cedar Park TX, Firefly has additional presence in Washington, D.C., Dnipro, Ukraine and Tokyo, Japan. Firefly is financed by Noosphere Ventures of Menlo Park, CA.
