Kirk Pysher, the newly-appointed vice president of mission assurance and product development at ILS.
Image Credit: ILS

[Via Satellite 08-20-13] International Launch Services (ILS) has appointed Kirk Pysher as vice president of mission assurance and product development. Pysher will be in charge of bolstering ILS’ focus on performance with responsibility for the overall quality review and monitoring of the Proton Quality Management System (QMS), oversight of Proton production processes and procedures, and regular reporting to industry customers and insurers on quality improvements performed by Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. He will report directly to Phil Slack, ILS’ president.

Pysher will also be responsible for overseeing ILS product development activities at Khrunichev, ILS’ majority owner and manufacturer of the Proton launch vehicle, to include performance upgrades and new capabilities that align with customers’ future requirements.

He has more than 20 years of experience serving the commercial launch industry, most recently as COO at Energia Logistics US, where he was responsible for all aspects of engineering and operations for the Sea Launch program. Prior to that post, he was the vice president and chief systems engineer for Boeing-Sea Launch.