Andrew Beckett

Professional Engineer

Washougal, Washington, United States

About

I am presently taking an intermission in my career following my ten-and-a-half years of service at SpaceX before taking on new responsibilities. My interests are in guidance, navigation, and control of spaceflight systems and look forward to developing expertise in GNC modeling and algorithm development to complement my extensive avionics hardware and systems expertise.

Experience

  • Principal Engineer at Astrolab
    Jul 2024 - Present · 2 yrs

  • Principal Engineer at Exolambda
    Feb 2024 - Aug 2024 · 7 mos

    I provide engineering expertise on an as-needed basis at ExoLambda LLC; providing valuable insights to meet the needs of our varied customers as well as growing my own skill set.

  • Personal goal pursuit at Career Break
    Jul 2023 - Feb 2024 · 8 mos

    I am taking a sabbatical from my career to recover energy following an amazing 10+ years at SpaceX; moving to be near my family, improve my personal fitness, pursue my private pilot's license, and pursue other personal goals.

  • SpaceX (Full-time · 10 yrs 7 mos)
    • Principal Sensors Development Engineer
      Mar 2022 - Jun 2023 · 1 yr 4 mos

      I am responsible for cradle-to-grave design, development, manufacture, test, and operation of sensors and sensor systems used in SpaceX products to provide propellant quantity estimation, environmental control and life support; and guidance, navigation, and control. I lead a small team to develop the next generation of environmental control and life support sensors and sensor systems for SpaceX Starship crewed vehicles and propellant leak detectors for the SpaceX Starship launch vehicle system. I am a mission operator and serve as navigator for SpaceX Dragon 2 missions for both institutional and private customers.

    • Senior Sensors Development Engineer
      Feb 2019 - Mar 2022 · 3 yrs 2 mos

      I am responsible for cradle-to-grave design, development, manufacture, test, and operation of sensors and sensor systems used in SpaceX products to provide guidance, navigation, and control; environmental control and life support, and propellant quantity estimation. I am a navigator of SpaceX Dragon and Dragon 2 spacecraft as well as an operator of Starlink spacecraft.

    • Sensors Development Engineer
      Oct 2014 - Feb 2019 · 4 yrs 5 mos

      I am responsible for acceptance and qualification test programs for the GNC hardware used in all of SpaceX's products, providing support for vehicle GNC systems, supporting new product development, and other duties as assigned. I am a trained navigator for the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.

  • Graduate Student at Vehicle Systems & Control Laboratory (VSCL)
    Jan 2009 - Dec 2012 · 4 yrs

    I am responsible for operating the Texas A&M University Aerospace Engineering Unmanned Flight Laboratory, a research laboratory focusing on fixed-wing unmanned aircraft systems. The Unmanned Flight Laboratory is a satellite laboratory of the Vehicles Systems & Control Laboratory under the auspices of Dr. John Valasek. In this position, I have been responsible for testing remotely-piloted and autonomous aircraft in partnership with industry partners including Raytheon, Aeroprobe Corp, StarVision Corp, AFOSR, and NavAir. I designed, built, and flight tested the TAMU Pegasus UAS, our first research workhorse UAS. I also develop and support systems for these vehicles and other affiliated labs and provide systems engineering expertise on an as-needed basis.