About Jeff Thornburg

BSAE 1996, UMR
MSAE 2000, Air Force Institute of Technology

Jeff Thornburg is the founder and President of Interstellar Technologies LLC, an aerospace engineering company based in Madison, AL.  Interstellar presently focuses on technology development, advanced R&D, manufacturing, testing, production and operations for spacecraft, launch vehicles, and propulsion systems.

Prior to forming Interstellar, Jeff was the Senior Director, and later the Vice President of Propulsion Engineering, at SpaceX in Hawthorne, CA.  He served as the lead engineer and manager of methane engine systems including the Raptor engine development program focused on SpaceX’s Mars architecture.  Thornburg led flight, test, development and research operations while also supporting customer interactions, including those with NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and commercial satellite operators.

Jeff started his career in the U.S. Air Force after graduating UMR, and was commissioned as an officer through Air Force ROTC Detachment 442.  He served as a flight commander and aircraft maintenance officer on KC-135R tanker aircraft at MacDill AFB, FL, then was selected to attend the Air Force Institute of Technology and earned his Master’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering.  Jeff was stationed at Edwards AFB, CA where he joined the liquid rocket engine branch at the Air Force Research Laboratory and worked several component and engine technology programs that included his leadership of the joint Air Force-NASA Integrated Powerhead Demonstration engine which was the world’s first hydrogen full-flow staged combustion cycle rocket engine.

Jeff was also a lead propulsion engineer and turbomachinery technical project manager for the J-2X engine development program at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.  Before joining NASA, Jeff spent 4 years working for Aerojet as an engineering director for their liquid engine turbomachinery group and serving as the site manager for the Aerojet-Woodland Hills engineering office in Woodland Hills, CA.

Jeff has received numerous Air Force and NASA awards including a NASA Space Flight Awareness award, the NASA Made It Happen award, the NASA Stennis Space Center Propulsion Test Director’s Leadership Award, and was an Air Force Research Laboratory Technical Program Manager of the Year. Jeff and his wife, Jessica, live in Madison, AL with their daughter Jameson.