I'm Jeff Gramling,
I was the TDRS project manager until November of 2015
I first got involved with the TDRS project when I came on
as a subsystem engineer in January of 1992
That was about a year before we launched F6 on the space shuttle.
I think my favorite memory of working on TDRS was when we started the TDRS-K
program in 2006 we were given a pretty tight
timeline, the project was down to just a few people and we had to staff up
very quickly, form a team, write specifications and get a
procurement out and awarded, we had made commitments to other
rganizations and we were fortunate in assembling a great
group of that really jelled, and we hit all of our timelines and
came together as a team and did a fantastic job and
it was just a fabulous experience. I think there are a couple of things I find
unique about the TDRS system. It's clearly
dramatically different from commercial communication satellites
primarily we have large gimbal antenna's that track orbiting
assets I'd say would be the main thing that's unique about the TDRS system and the data
rates that we operate at. So being apart of the TDRS team has been a
phenomenal experience for me, I came on I got to work two shuttle
launches and then I got to work two development programs from
generation specifications to through launch, so its
been a tremendous experience. For the TDRS-K program I had the
pleasure of being the project manager from the beginning through launch
of TDRS-K, and L and being able to
participate in the whole program and the feeling that
you enabled the success along with a great team of people is a
tremendous experience.
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