Gordie Russell OribitalATK SLS

Gordie Russell is currently the Huntsville Operations Manager for the Propulsion Systems Division of Orbital ATK in Huntsville, Alabama. In this role he is the manager of Orbital ATK’s Booster Program Office at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), supporting NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) vehicle. He is responsible for managing customer programmatic and technical support, is the local materials and processes representative, and he is the MSFC IT support person for NASA’s access to Orbital ATK computer systems. The group he manages is also responsible for the SLS Avionics Integration Lab for the SLS boosters and its interfaces. Along with managing the technical aspects as the liaison between Orbital ATK and NASA MSFC, Gordie also represents Orbital ATK in the Huntsville, Alabama community.

He is the youngest Emeritus Docent at the US Space & Rocket Center, manages the NASA Student Launch Rocket Competition for Orbital ATK, represents Orbital ATK at the annual NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge, serves as a member and board member of the National Space Club, Huntsville Chapter (2015 Von Braun Memorial Dinner Chairperson), and supports many other community events.

Gordie has more than 13 years of experience in the aerospace industry in engineering, program management, systems engineering and integrated process teams. After graduating as one of the valedictorians of Broomfield High School in Broomfield, CO, he went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, CO, and a master’s degree in chemical engineering from University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT. Since joining the Aerospace community he has worked on and supported multiple NASA programs including the Space Shuttle, Constellation, and SLS launch vehicles. He has received many awards and accolades from Orbital ATK, NASA, and the community including his most recent RNASA 2015 Stellar Award nomination. He speaks at many conferences and forums and has appeared in several videos where he enjoys sharing his passion for space and space exploration.

Gordie is a husband and father of 3 children. He was born in British Columbia, Canada, grew up in the U.S. (mainly in the state of Colorado), and is the second oldest of 8 children. He loves sports and the outdoors and also volunteers his time as the Scoutmaster for his son’s Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Troop, spending many nights camping and enjoying other BSA activities. Gordie is also very active as a member of his church and during his college years he was able to spend 22 months in Moscow, Russia on a church mission. Having a knowledge of the Russian language has been fun for him in working with people from all over the world.