TRA Lifetime Membership is an award that is intended to recognize significant achievements by members, sustained over an extended period of time. It is awarded by the Lifetime Membership Committee sparingly, and is not always granted at LDRS every year.
Our first recipient will not be able to receive his award in person, since he is currently in Earth orbit on the International Space Station! He is Woody Hoburg, NASA astronaut and pilot of the Space-X Crew-6/ISS Expedition 69 mission to the ISS.
Woody’s rocket history goes way back to when he was a young student in the Pittsburgh area. In his earliest days, he quickly outstripped model rockets and was ready for high power, years before he was 18. Partnering with his father, who became a TRA certified high-power flyer, Woody would build his impressive rockets, while dad flew them. When he turned 18, he quickly passed all three flyer certifications, and began large projects in earnest.
He attended many LDRS events, wherever they were, and networked with an increasingly large circle of TRA members. He was a clear source of inspiration to many, especially youths and students, who saw the impressive results of his increasingly complex projects, worthy of a rocketeer of many more years of experience. He showed that doing the work – being creative, scientific, and thorough – gained good results, no matter the age of the flyer. He was an obvious rising star in TRA.
Inevitably, Woody had to leave this activity behind for some time while he pursued his college education, including a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT and a PhD in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley. Embarking on his professional career, he was first employed by Boeing Commercial Aircraft in Product Development. Following that, he moved to an assistant professorship of Aeronautics and Astronautics with his undergraduate alma mater, MIT. In that role, he taught undergraduate courses on Dynamics and Flight Vehicle Engineering.
It was at this point in his career, in June 2017, that Woody got the call from NASA, informing him that he had been selected as an astronaut candidate. He would report to NASA that August. After successfully completing his two-year training course, it was announced in December 2020 that he was selected as one of eighteen astronauts for the Artemis Program, targeting a first Moon mission in 2024. In the interim, a more immediate space mission became reality, the SpaceX Crew-6/ISS Expedition 69. In 2022, he was selected to be the pilot for the four-man mission to the ISS. He is in orbit on the ISS now.
Woody is now Tripoli’s first astronaut. And it appears he may be Tripoli’s first man on the Moon. Having been sent a recent article written about him in High Power Rocketry, he attempted to call its author, Ken Good (who regrettably could not attend this LDRS), to thank him for the writeup. Ironically, Woody’s call from the ISS went to Ken’s voicemail, since he was at a Tripoli Pittsburgh launch where cellular coverage is poor – the call from space worked, but Earthbound cell phone connectivity failed! In his message, he acknowledged all the support, networking, and inspirational background provided by Tripoli and its members in fueling his space science career aspirations. He has clearly built upon this foundation and is rising to the pinnacle of achievement in his chosen field. His is a fantastic example of what a motivated Tripoli rocketeer can achieve in rocketry.
Congratulations, Woody! Tripoli salutes your achievements and wishes you all the best in your space endeavors