Rodger E. Farley passed away on December 5th, 2024, at 67. Rodger was a distinguished aerospace engineer with over 40 years of experience, primarily at the Mechanical Systems Branch of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). His extensive expertise spanned across various domains, including aircraft, rotorcraft, spacecraft, and balloon craft. Farley served as the chief designer for NASA’s super-pressure balloon development, where he played a pivotal role in designing the vehicle and creating numerous design and flight simulation software products tailored for stratospheric balloon flights.
In the earlier stages of his career, Farley was involved in the design of deployable structures and mechanisms for various spacecraft, making significant contributions to projects such as COBE, XTE, TRMM, and ATLAS and assisting in various GSFC in-house designs.
After his NASA career, he founded Farley Flight Aerospace, where he continued his work on stratospheric balloons and served as chief engineer for World View Enterprises.
His body of work reflects a commitment to excellence and innovation in the aerospace engineering field. His noteworthy contributions and exemplary work earned him several prestigious accolades, including:
- The NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal in 2013
- The AIAA Engineer of the Year Award in 2018 for his groundbreaking system design of a controlled lighter-than-air vehicle capable of maintaining its position in the stratosphere
- The AIAA Otto Winzen Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021, recognizing a lifetime of accomplishments in applying aerospace mechanics to the dynamic response of various aerospace vehicles, encompassing spacecraft, aircraft, and balloons.
