SPACE

This 24-year-old engineer will be ‘on console’ for final flight of ULA's Delta IV medium rocket

Rachael Joy
Florida Today
Sporting a 'man-bun' and a baseball style henley, 24 yr. old Connor Murphy is part of the next generation of aerospace engineers.

UPDATE: United Launch Alliance successfully launches its last "single-stick" Delta IV rocket at 9:06 a.m. Thursday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. 

As the retiring of the Delta IV medium makes way for a new breed of rocket, a young generation of engineers are entering the workforce fired up to make their mark in New Space. 

Connor Murphy, 24, is one of them. Murphy came to the Cape in 2017 right out of the University of Kansas with a degree in aerospace engineering and landed his first job at United Launch Alliance as a spacecraft integrator.

“If you have a problem with your computer, then you call an IT person. And if the spacecraft has a problem with the rocket, they call me. So I'm kind of the link between our ground operations team and then the spacecraft ground operations team," Murphy explained.

A self-described “nerdy kid,” he was good at math and enjoyed science fiction movies.  Among space enthusiasts, your stance on whether Star Wars or Star Trek is better is hotly debated. For the record, Murphy is in the Star Wars camp. 

“I like the concept of space being the last frontier to explore. I want to be a part of that.”

He says the transition from cornfields to beaches was pretty nice and early on he surfed a lot.  “I just went out there with one of the big foam long boards and then practiced until I got it.” But two years later with a calendar packed full of launches, he’s too busy for surfing.

Spacecraft integrator Connor Murphy stands in front of the the Delta IV medium getting ready for its final launch from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

Every mission has unique challenges and this one is no different. On Thursday morning the ULA Delta IV medium will launch an Air Force GPS communication satellite. But it was originally slated to launch on an Atlas V rocket so it has two adapters, one for the Delta and the other for the Atlas, and they're stacked on top of each other.

“I don't have the history to know if we've done that before, but it is something I never would have expected that we would mix up hardware between rockets like that.”

Not only did they switch rockets but they also upgraded from their heritage avionics system to a common avionics system in order to streamline the system to be used on Delta, Atlas and the new Vulcan Centaur rocket, slated to launch for the first time in April 2021.

This required changing all the electrical harnessing too.

“We had to have extensions, basically, that went from the rocket side, up the spacecraft side and we need to extend the cables over both adapters to get to the spacecraft. So that's pretty unusual.”

Murphy admits that the work can be stressful and the stakes are high because the ULA team prides themselves on a 100% mission success rate.

“I definitely am nervous a little bit. But then as soon as I get to work, and then get on console and get everything ready. I feel ready and calm.”

This is Connor Murphy's view of the launchpad from his front row seat at ULA's Delta Launch Control.

From his front-row seat in launch control, Murphy can watch the fruits of his labor in full color and surround sound.

“You're close enough that you can actually feel the vibration of the launch.”

When the Delta IV medium lifts off from Launch Complex 37, it will leave behind its bigger brother, the three-core Delta IV Heavy, which will continue to fly into the 2020s. For Murphy, witnessing the launch will be bittersweet.

“It's kind of sad to know that this is probably the last Delta mission I'll be doing for a long time. But it's also really exciting to be a part of a milestone mission. That's the end, the end of the Delta medium vehicle.”

With a few days off after the launch, maybe this busy engineer will celebrate his hard work with some surfing and a trip to the new Star Wars Galaxy's Edge at Disney World?

“Maybe one day.”

Contact Rachael Joy at 321-242-3577 or email rjoy@floridatoday.com. Follow her on Twitter @Rachael_Joy.

Launch Thursday

  • Rocket: ULA Delta IV
  • Mission: Air Force GPS satellite
  • Launch Time: 9 a.m.
  • Launch Window: Until 9:27 a.m.
  • Launch Complex: 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
  • Weather: 80% "go"

Join FloridaToday.com/Space at 7 a.m. Thursday for countdown chat and updates, including streaming of ULA's launch webcast.