#263 Tom Markusic - Founder & CEO at Firefly Aerospace

Today we are talking to Tom, the CTO and Founder of Firefly Aerospace.  And we discuss the journey leading to their upcoming rocket launch, why you must be a fan of doing difficult things to be a successful entrepreneur, and what we can expect the future of space travel to look like.

All of this, right here, right now on the Modern CTO Podcast!

About Tom:

Prior to co–founding Firefly, Tom served in a variety of technical and leadership roles in new-space companies: Vice President of Propulsion at Virgin Galactic, Senior Systems Engineer at Blue Origin, Director of the Texas Test Site and Principal Propulsion Engineer at SpaceX. Prior to his new–space work, Tom was a civil servant at NASA and the USAF, where he worked as research scientist and propulsion engineer.

He holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University.

About Firefly:

Firefly Aerospace Inc. (”Firefly”) is committed to providing low-cost, high-frequency access to space for small payloads through the design, manufacture and operation of innovative launch vehicles. The Firefly team aims to address the market's need for flexible access to space with a “simplest, soonest” approach to technology selection: each launch vehicle embodies the insights of a diverse design team and leverages components with high technology readiness levels (TRL) to reduce risk, guarantee reliability and minimize development time.