James Kelly

James Kelly is an experienced aerospace engineer with a robust background in avionics and software development. Currently serving as the Chief Engineer for Avionics at Stratolaunch since September 2019, James leads the avionics and telemetry systems for hypersonics programs. Previous roles at Stratolaunch included Senior Avionics Engineer, where James was the lead for Talon-A hypersonic vehicles, designing their avionics architecture from inception. Prior to Stratolaunch, James worked at Scaled Composites, developing safety-critical software for flight vehicles, and held research positions at Mississippi State University and Jet Propulsion Laboratory, focusing on inertial measurement units and multispectral imaging systems. James holds a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Mississippi State University, along with an Associate's degree in Engineering from Northeast Mississippi Community College.