David King ’89, The Great Space Frontier and Beyond
After a twenty-five- year career with NASA that began in 1983 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Dave played key roles in more than 100 space shuttle missions. His retirement from NASA in 2009 as director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, where he served as center director overseeing 7,000 onsite employees and contractors with a $2.7 billion budget, simply opened the door for new opportunities in space system development and operations in the private sector.
Dave joined Dynetics as executive vice president and manager of Integrated Systems and Special Programs Operating Unit, and soon after established the Space Division. He was named company president in October 2013 and assumed his current role as CEO in July 2015.
Dave is an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) fellow. He has been recognized for his leadership and technical achievements with such awards as the National Space Club Goddard Memorial trophy, the NASA Medal for Distinguished Service, two NASA Outstanding Leadership medals, both the Distinguished and Meritorious Presidential Rank awards as a career senior executive, and the AIAA’s Holger Toftoy Award for outstanding technical management.
“Engineering, just like obtaining your education, is a marathon not a sprint. We work on highly complex projects that require skill and expertise over a span of time. I encourage our employees to take the time needed to finish a project the right way so it is something we are all proud to support,” states King.
King was featured in Florida Tech’s 60th Anniversary special edition book, “60 for 60: Celebrating Sixty Years of Alumni at Florida Institute of Technology.” Copies are available for purchase here.
