Justin Kerr is a Senior Chief Engineer for Blue Origin and serves as the Mark 1 Lunar Lander and Orbital Reef Chief Engineer. Prior to his current position at Blue Origin, Kerr worked at NASA where he has over 30 years of human spaceflight experience. He started his career designing micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) shielding for the International Space Station (ISS) and Shuttle programs. From Mission Control Houston, he led the Damage Assessment Team during 22 missions from STS-114 (first mission after the Columbia disaster) through STS-135 (last mission of the program). He and his team used robotic imagery collected on-orbit and models/tools developed pre-flight to assess the Orbiter heat shield as “safe for entry” each mission. Kerr led the Commercial Crew Program Spacecraft Office from program inception and was responsible for ensuring that the Crew vehicle providers (SpaceX and Boeing) met all human rating requirements. At the end of his NASA career, Kerr served as the NASA Engineering and Safety Center Chief Engineer for Johnson Space Center.
Kerr spends his free time with his wife and three kids. His favorite sports teams are the Texas Longhorns and the Houston Astros.
Area(s) of Deepest Technical Expertise/Experience:
Human spaceflight certification; Micrometeoroid/Orbital Debris testing, shield design, and risk assessment; high speed dynamics (analysis and testing).
Educational Background, Certifications, Publications:
Justin earned his Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering and Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering both from The University of Texas at Austin, a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University, and is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School General Management Program. He is also a Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.
