Aerospace Stage Separation and Launch Termination

Ensign Bickford Aerospace and Defense

I worked as a project engineer on frangible joints and linear shaped charge for space launch vehicles. My projects provided stage separation and launch termination for United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin, and SpaceX.

I was deeply involved in requirements, design, prototyping, testing, root cause analysis, manufacturing, and validation.

Cross sections of Linear Shaped Charge used for launch termination

Cross sections of Linear Shaped Charge used for launch termination

Test section of frangible joint used for stage separation

Test section of frangible joint used for stage separation

Full section of frangible joint used for separation

Full section of frangible joint used for separation