Shawn Buckley has been promoted to Vice President of Sierra Space’s in-space destinations development. Sierra Space is a prominent commercial space-tech firm and a leading provider of next-generation defence-tech prime developing a platform in space to benefit life on Earth.
The company’s development of the enabling technology for the first commercial space station in history will be Buckley’s primary responsibility in his new position, which will see him supervise all products in Sierra Space’s space station technology portfolio and in-space infrastructure. Buckley’s team has been in charge of six stress tests of its expandable space station technology during this crucial stage of technological development, which is focused on the commercial use of space habitation. The second full-scale test article test, or the seventh test, is slated for next month.
Tom Vice, CEO of Sierra Space, stated, “Shawn is our industry’s definitive voice on space station technology, making him the ideal candidate to lead our team’s in-space habitation work during this critical phase of development. There is no one better to lead this extremely talented team as the Dream Chaser enters mission operations and our space station testing campaigns intensify to meet our company goals and the needs of the industry. We have accomplished what others thought was impossible over the past two years, and it has been nothing short of amazing,” Buckley said. Leading the space industry, Sierra Space has the ability to affect every aspect of the space ecosystem, from launch and landing to on-orbit destinations and the gear and software that supports them. I am excited about continuing to work with these amazing teams at Sierra Space to drive the future of space commercialization in the Orbital Age.”
The project manager for Sierra Space, Buckley will oversee the creation of the LIFE habitat, a sizable inflatable structure that launches compressed and expands in orbit to match the ISS’s capacity in just three launches while housing four to six humans for microgravity research. Buckley, a world expert on expandable habitats, oversaw Phase 1 of the Orbital Reef program while holding the position of Senior Director of Engineering at Sierra Space. His prior positions were Vice President of Bigelow Aerospace and Chief Technologist at Lockheed Martin, where he helped make the ISS’s BEAM module a reality.
