Chris Fowler, SpaceX (www.SpaceX.com) Lead Engineer for Dragon exterior structures, spoke to our West Virginia Coding Club participants at our April 3 meeting. Chris shared about his path to and experience with SpaceX. As Lead Engineer, he is basically responsible for everything that you find on the exterior of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. It is unique in that is has been designed to be reusable, thus lowering the cost barrier to space travel.
Chris arrived at this current career from his interests when he was young. He had an interest in engineering at an early age, sharing he loved legos. Chris was on his high school Solar Car team, which built a Solar Car that drove from Dallas, Texas to California. Gaining this experience and learning from trial and error helped start his engineering career. He took many science and engineering related classes in high school. In college, Chris focused on Formula SAE, working with a small race car to compete with other colleges.
When in college Chris attended a talk from Gwynne Shotwell, President and COO of SpaceX and had the opportunity to speak to her. SpaceX is his first job out of college and has allowed him opportunities to advance and excel being directly involved with the SpaceX Dragon.
The SpaceX Dragon, which can carry supplies or humans, launches on top of a Falcon 9 launch vehicle. One of the key external structures of the Dragon is the docking port that connects with the International Space Station. Another vital aspect is the thermal shield. When returning to Earth the external Dragon capsule can be exposed to temperatures over 4,000 degrees fahrenheit, so the thermal shield is vital to being able to have the Dragon return to Earth through its atmosphere.
Answering questions, Chris talked about the work culture at SpaceX. Chris explained at SpaceX it is a very positive and super collaborative culture. They take their work seriously, but still have a fun and creative atmosphere. Chris also talked about Starlink and the ability for it to provide access to internet all over the world in the near future.
Dan McElroy, President of the West Virginia Coding Club, explained, “The engineering, technology and coding required for space travel is on the cutting edge of innovation. We appreciate Chris taking time to speak with our students about what they can do to prepare for their future careers and these types of opportunities.”
Thank you Chris Fowler and all you are doing at SpaceX to further Space exploration!!
For more information about the West Virignia Coding Club and its activities, go to www.wvcoding.org.