A familiar face has officially joined the Spaceflight team: Grant Bonin, an experienced player in the space industry has joined us as Senior Vice President of Business Development. He’ll be overseeing the business development team and working closely with all of our teams to develop and deliver solutions to ensure our customers’ mission success. As Spaceflight moves into its next phase of growth, where transportation to and within space is more important than ever, we’re excited to have Grant’s experience on the team.
Prior to joining Spaceflight, Grant was the Chief Engineer of Space Systems at Rocket Lab, where he created their space systems group and led development of the Photon Small Satellite Platform. Before that, he was the Chief Technology Officer at Deep Space Industries. It was here where he was a customer of Spaceflight, buying a rideshare launch for the HawkEye 360 pathfinder mission on the highly successful SSO-A launch.
“As a former customer of Spaceflight, I’m coming to this company knowing very well the value it provides. Joining the team is the strongest endorsement I can make,” says Bonin. “ I’ve worked on both the satellite development and the launch vehicle sides of this industry, and I’m familiar with the challenges of both. I’m eager to play a role in expanding Spaceflight’s business as the company continues to execute a growing number of launches each year, and help develop creative and novel ideas that are transforming how satellites are launched to exactly where they need to go. I absolutely want to be part of that.”
Grant brings more than fifteen years of experience in aerospace management and engineering, specializing in spacecraft systems engineering, project management and business development. His wide industry and academic experience spans end-to-end spacecraft development, manned and unmanned space mission analysis and design, orbital mechanics research, and nuclear systems engineering. Bonin has more than 30 operational spacecraft on orbit, with several more in development launching over the next few years.
Grant is particularly interested in expanding services to larger spacecraft customers, who often have the least streamlined experience as a rideshare customer, and also exploring ways to provide access to all — whether they want to go to a popular orbit, or take that “last mile journey” to exactly the destination they need.
Curt Blake, CEO and president of Spaceflight, adds, “Grant is an exceptional engineer with business development expertise and a passion for space. His unique experience and diverse skillset will bring new perspectives and innovative ideas to Spaceflight as we strive to expand our offering of rideshare services. We’re thrilled to have him join Spaceflight and know he will play an integral role in helping make space more accessible through rideshare.”
Welcome, Grant! We are looking forward to having you shape our next chapter.