Reflections on a 41-year career in the aerospace industry

Published Dec. 7, 2010
By Shawn Jacobs
AEDC/PA

ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. -- Even many adults do not seem to know what they want to do when they grow up.

But Randy Simpson knew from an early age he wanted to be become an engineer in the aerospace industry.

"As a baby boomer growing up in the late 50s and early 60s, I watched with great interest as our fledgling space program tried literally to get off the ground to catch up with the Soviets in the race to space," Simpson said at his recent retirement ceremony at Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC). I have always been fascinated by the heavens and was determined from an early age to become an engineer and have something to do with our race to the moon."

Simpson said timing and luck helped him fulfill that dream. He went to work for Boeing after graduating from Vanderbilt University in 1969. Six weeks later, he was part of the team that helped send and safely return men from the lunar surface.

He downplays his role in the magnificent accomplishment but is proud of the certificate that denotes his involvement.

"While my six weeks' contributions on that project were miniscule to be sure, I was proud to be on a team that helped start the Space Age and do what will live as one of man's greatest accomplishments," Simpson said. "But my proudest achievement was to be chosen shortly thereafter to a small design team of 20 engineers which developed the Lunar Rover, which flew six times to the moon. To be sure, my contributions as a rookie engineer were not memorable, but I can say that something I designed now sits on the moon, and it will be maybe 75 years before we go back and see it."

Simpson said his early experiences convinced him he wanted to be involved in the space program for his entire career. The demise of the Apollo program seemed to put an end to that dream when Boeing laid off almost 3,000 employees, including Simpson. With no jobs available, he went back to school at the University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) and eventually joined AEDC.

He said the country's seeming loss of interest in space affected AEDC as well, with the space facilities having been "on life support" a number of times during his career, but he is thankful for the work Arnold now does in missile and satellite defense for the country.

During his more than 37 years at AEDC, Simpson said he worked for all of the base's operating contractors: Arnold Research Organization (ARO), Calspan, MicroCraft, Sverdrup and Aerospace Testing Alliance (ATA), which currently holds the contract.

"With all these employers it might indicate that I was a pretty bad employee who couldn't keep a job, but throughout this coming and going I did the same job, and for the most part, kept the same office."

In particular, Simpson thanked ATA General Manager Dr. David Elrod, "for keeping me on and letting me do some of the most fun work a person could do. It is a truly blessed person indeed who can say he spent his entire career doing something that was meaningful and enjoyable with some of the most talented and friendly people around while getting paid."

In addition to God and his family, Simpson paid tribute to the many employees he has worked with at AEDC.

"I want to thank the many people over the 37 years I have been here who have helped me grow as an engineer and a person and without whose support, I could not have been successful," he said. "I have worked with many of the finest engineers, physicists, scientists and craftsmen around. I feel proud of what we have accomplished together over the years to do our part in defending this nation and supporting our warfighters."

Simpson apparently became known as a "go to guy" fairly early in his career, according to Keith Holt, ATA program manager for the Space Threat Assessment Testbed (STAT), and Simpson's most recent supervisor.

"When I first started in 1985, they told me I was going to be the new cryogenics engineer working in the Space Chambers area, and they pointed me toward Randy Simpson and said, 'He'll teach you everything you'll need to know,'" Holt said. "Randy and I did investment projects in the Space Chambers area for many years through the 1980s and ʾ90s.

"He is recognized in the space program both at AEDC and nationally as an expert in cryo-vacuum mechanism and optical design. I've seen people turn to Randy for years in these technical areas of expertise. That's why I picked him and had him on my projects."

Simpson was most recently mechanical lead engineer for STAT, which is designed to test military and commercial satellites from the effects of natural and man-made threats.

He already has plans for the next phase of his life: playing golf and tennis with his wife of almost 40 years, spending time with his three sons and his two granddaughters and just sleeping late.