Shawn Hendricks, new COO of Orbit Fab. Photo: Orbit Fab

Orbit Fab has hired former Terran Orbital executive Shawn Hendricks as its first chief operating officer (COO), to ramp up the company’s internal production. Orbit Fab announced the hire July 31. 

Hendricks was senior vice president of operations for Terran Orbital, and previously held management positions with L3Harris and served nearly two decades with the U.S. Navy working on space missions. He served as a deputy program director in the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and led spacecraft production for a $13 billion national imagery satellite.

Orbit Fab, which raised about $29 million in a Series A round earlier this year, is developing its RAFTI refueling port and other in-space fueling systems. Hendricks will manage the firm’s new build and test capabilities as the company is transitioning from development to production. The company recently installed a clean room and electronics lab at its headquarters in Lafayette, Colorado.

“Orbit Fab’s exciting and aggressive development and delivery roadmap reflects the urgent need for sustainable refueling capabilities for rapidly emerging government, defense, and commercial missions in space. I’m extremely honored to join the company as its first chief operating officer and bring my enthusiasm and unique perspective to help Orbit Fab extend its leadership in space refueling,” said Shawn Hendricks, Orbit Fab COO.

CEO Daniel Faber highlighted the benefit of Hendricks’ commercial and government experience. “Shawn’s vast corporate and government experience is exactly what we need to lead our efforts to increase production of our refueling systems. Shawn’s insight has already proven invaluable as we optimize operations to ensure sustained quality across our solutions suite bound to enable vital commercial and government missions in every corner of space,” Faber commented.