Lauren Lyons is Chief Operating Officer (COO), Firefly Aerospace, Inc. Ms. Lyons’ priorities will focus on transitioning Firefly from an R&D environment to a production environment that streamlines delivery to customers on schedule and with high reliability, while maintaining the essential capacity to innovate, execute quickly, and respond rapidly to changing market dynamics.
Work Experience
She was most recently at Blue Origin, where she was a Lead Systems Engineer in Blue Origin’s Advanced Concepts.
Prior to Blue Origin, Ms. Lyons spent several years at SpaceX where she held leadership roles on the Dragon, Falcon 9, and Starlink programs, and with responsibilities in Vehicle Engineering, Safety and Mission Assurance, Chief Engineering, Business Development, and Mission Management.
Before joining the world of commercial space, Ms. Lyon worked as a medical device R&D engineer. She also worked on Mars robots at NASA/JPL, wrote about how space benefits earth, and taught leadership courses at Harvard University.
Philanthropy, Community Service and Memberships
She currently serve as a mentor for the Patti Grace Smith Fellowship, which provides jobs, mentorship, and community for Black undergrads seeking aerospace careers; and where possible, She speak at events sharing my own origins story in hopes that I can help inspire a new generation of explorers — especially women, people of color, and others who are underrepresented in the aerospace industry.
Education
Ms. Lyons earned a bachelor's degree in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and minors / certificates in Engineering Biology and Robotics & Intelligent Systems from Princeton University. She also earned a master's degree in Business and Government Policy from Harvard, John F. Kennedy School of Government.
