Enabling humanity's search for truth through space exploration

William Kennedy ’17

Aerospace Systems Engineer, NASA/Booz Allen Hamilton

MAJOR: MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Bill Kennedy ’17 holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Notre Dame and a master’s in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University. He is a lead engineer for Booz Allen Hamilton and an employee of the NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. As a part of the NASA Artemis program, he manages the Configuration Analysis Modeling and Mass Properties team in the Systems Engineering and Integration Office for the Lunar Gateway space station program. An international effort between NASA and the European, Canadian, and Japanese space agencies, the Lunar Gateway will begin assembly in orbit around the moon in 2023 and serve as a staging point for the next crewed missions to land the first woman and next man on the moon and support a sustained human presence on the lunar surface. 

Previously, Kennedy served as a systems engineer for 11 expeditions to the International Space Station, having also worked on the ISS integration efforts of the SpaceX crewed Dragon and Falcon 9 mission that returned crewed launch capability to America for the first time since the retirement of the Space Shuttle. He received the NASA Avionic Systems Division award for his work on cis-lunar antenna line-of-sight communication optimization, published work through the International Astronautical Federation, is a board-licensed Professional Engineer, and an associate member of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He has mentored high school students in the Houston area through independent study mentorship programs, by serving as a judge at Houston science fairs, and as a catechist at St. Bernadette’s Catholic Church of Houston.