Firefly Aerospace, Inc. (Firefly), a developer of orbital launch vehicles for the small to medium satellite market, announced today that Shea Ferring has joined Firefly as Vice President of Mission Assurance. Ferring has more than 25 years of experience in design, integration and test of space systems. Throughout his career, Shea has held numerous engineering and leadership roles, including positions at NASA Launch Services Program, ECAPS, Vencore, and Orbital ATK. He has participated in over 50 space missions spanning numerous launch vehicles, including Minotaur, Atlas V, Delta IV, Pegasus, and Falcon 9.
“Shea brings a wealth of hands on mission assurance experience to Firefly,” said Firefly CEO Dr. Tom Markusic. “As Firefly’s technology matures, we continue to augment our senior leadership with individuals that have a proven track record of driving complex aerospace development projects to successful completion. This signals to our customers that we are serious about maintaining both quality and schedule. Shea’s knowledge and in-depth experience with numerous orbital launch vehicles will be a tremendous asset for the Firefly team.”
Ferring is an expert in launch vehicle design, qualification, integration, test and flight and holds a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Arizona State University. Ferring’s leadership, multi-discipline engineering expertise and passion allow him to deliver impactful strategic guidance and mentoring to the Firefly team.
“Firefly’s culture is being developed to integrate the best blend of key heritage Mission Success principles while also capitalizing on NewSpace innovation that is driven by vision, passion, and employee empowerment,” said Shea Ferring. “This perfect blend will set Firefly apart from the competition with a highly reliable system that both government and commercial customers can rely on for their most mission critical needs. I am excited to help mentor and lead the Firefly team in developing this culture to dominate the small and medium launch markets.”
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.
