Thursday September 2nd will see the first attempt at delivery of a payload into orbit by Austin, Texas-based company Firefly. UC Davis alumnus Roderic Vanderscoff ’14 has led the design, development, and testing of the booster rocket engine for this flight. Keeping the area around Vandenberg Air Force Base safe is UC Davis alum Bethany Baldwin-Pulcini ’15 with her work on the flight termination system. More information about the launch, including a link to a live stream, can be found here:  https://everydayastronaut.com/flta001-dream-alpha/  .

For more on Firefly and our two alumni see this recent UC Davis
Magazine article see  https://magazine.ucdavis.edu/moonshot-thinking/ .