CHS STEM Students Tour Aerospace Facility | CPT PPP Coverage

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Coleman High School STEM students Neveah Eldred, Bethany Jones, Cole Fikes, Riley Hartfield, Kelan Sikes, and CHS Science Teacher Gary Strickland, recently had an opportunity to visit an aerospace business near Austin, Texas. Firefly Aerospace is a startup company founded in 2017. The tour began at the Headquarters and Engineering facility in Cedar Park, TX. We heard about the origin and mission of Firefly from Eric Salwan, Co-Founder and Director of Business Development.

Their mission statement is “Firefly Aerospace Inc. (“Firefly”) is an American end-to-end space transportation company committed to providing economical and convenient access to space for small payloads through the design, manufacture, and operation of reliable launch and spacecraft vehicles. Firefly’s launch vehicles utilize common technologies, manufacturing infrastructure, and launch capabilities, providing LEO launch solutions for up to ten metric tons of payload. Combined with Firefly’s in-space vehicles, such as the Space Utility Vehicle (SUV) and Blue Ghost Lunar Lander, Firefly provides the space industry with a single source for missions from LEO to the surface of the Moon or beyond.”

According to Mr. Salwan Firefly produces the largest all-carbon composite rocket in the world. He thinks that by 2040 the space industry will be a trillion-dollar industry. According to information from their website, over 100 companies are trying to build small launch vehicles with only 6-10 making significant progress. Firefly is one of only three companies currently able to launch commercial payloads into Earth’s orbit. He says it is an exciting mini space race.

We learned about career opportunities from Firefly’s technical recruiter. They not only hire the expected engineers and programmers – there are multiple opportunities for employment straight out of high school. There are entry level positions in avionics and electric harness production, carbon composite manufacturing and CNC machining. They offer internships for college juniors and seniors.

Following the headquarters tour, students went to “The Hive” in Leander. This is where the Blue Ghost lunar lander and all of the avionics and electrical systems are manufactured and assembled. We viewed several clean rooms and witnessed workers assembling and working on various projects. Firefly’s Blue Ghost mission is a NASA sponsored mission to deliver 13 commercial and government payloads to the lunar surface on the dark side of the moon. They have missions scheduled in 2024 and 2026.

Students finished the tour at the main manufacturing facility near Briggs, Tx. In this facility, the rockets themselves are fabricated and tested from the ground up. We saw the construction of the carbon composite airframes. We toured the machining room where they build and assemble the Reaver engines used in their Alpha rocket. We saw the control rooms, engine test stands, and completed the tour by their final test tower where they proof completed rockets before certifying them for launch.

To explore more about Firefly Aerospace, visit www.fireflyspace.com.