the Authors
A ranch upbringing. A NASA career. A book their sons made necessary.
Travis and Amanda Davis both found their way from rural beginnings to NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, and back again to the Black Hills of South Dakota. Between them they have designed rocket engine components, built rocket engine test stands, monitored the International Space Station, developed NASA patents, and are raising two boys who think rocket launches and feeding cattle are equally important activities. This book is the one we wish we had when we were little.
This book is focused on bridging the gap between the hands-on know-how that we fortunately developed growing up in rural areas with the fundamentals of engineering that we have culminated in our professional careers. We now know that our rural hands-on opportunities were the foundation for our successful careers! But we also know, that in the moment, fixing/troubleshooting a broken waterline in mid-winter South Dakota, can seem a million miles away from sitting console on a 550,000 pound thrust rocket engine test. What could be seen as a hindrance or limitation, is actually an opportunity unlock for your future. We know, we have seen it first-hand!
Travis Davis
NASA Aerospace Engineer · US-Ireland Alliance Scholar · Private Pilot
Travis grew up on a ranch and was a wildland firefighter before earning degrees in Mechanical Engineering from South Dakota Mines and Biomedical Engineering from Trinity College Dublin on a US-Ireland Alliance Scholarship. At NASA Marshall Space Flight Center he was a design and test engineer in propulsion systems and additive manufacturing, developing NASA patents in metal AM for rocket engine components. He later brought that experience to Blue Origin, where he led the Engine Propulsion Test team at Test Stand 4670 testing BE4, BE3U and BE7 rocket engine testing. He is a licensed private pilot and enjoys working on never-ending hands-on projects with his wife and boys in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
Amanda Davis
NASA Certified Payload Operations Controller · Engineer · CGM Specialist
Amanda grew up in rural Montana, where ranch life shaped her community and her instincts long before she arrived at NASA. As a certified Payload Operations Controller at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, she monitored critical systems aboard the International Space Station in real time, reading data, identifying patterns, and solving problems under pressure. She now lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota with Travis and their two sons, who are six and three and already asking the questions this book was written to answer.