Jake Rogers, the son of Ruth C. Rogers and the late Jacob R. Rogers II, has retired from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He joined NASA in 1970 at Kennedy Space Center where he worked as an electrical engineer developing telemetry and data display systems.
These systems supported testing and launch of Apollo/Saturn vehicles, which were used to accomplish manned lunar landings, and the Skylab Program, America’s first space station.
They also supported many unmanned launches, including the Viking Mars missions and the Pioneer missions. Pioneer 10 is now more than 9 billion miles from earth, more than twice the distance to Pluto.
In 1977, Rogers became involved in the design, development, implementation, and operation of the Checkout, Control, and Monitor System (CCMS).
For over thirty years, this system, a network of several hundred computers and related support equipment, was used for testing and launch of the Space Shuttle.
The first Space Shuttle launch occurred in April 1981. From 1987 to 1990, he served as the Chief of the CCMS Maintenance Section. Launch of the Hubble Space Telescope aboard Space Shuttle Discovery was one of the highlights during this time.
In 1990, Rogers transferred to the Payload Management and Operations Directorate and served as the Checkout System Branch Chief.
In this capacity, he was responsible for the various checkout systems used in the pre-launch testing of payloads, such as SpaceLab and elements of the International Space Station, destined for launch on the Space Shuttle.
In 1996, as the Engineering Services Division Chief, he was responsible for the Payloads Data Management System and related software development efforts designed to improve the overall operations of the directorate, which was responsible for International Space Station processing and expendable launch vehicle support.
Beginning in 2000, Rogers lead a long-term effort to drastically improve the hardware infrastructure of the Kennedy Data Center and software applications that support Kennedy Space Center operations. This also included efforts to improve NASA’s Internet presence. His efforts resulted in major software technology improvements that support operations at Kennedy Space Center.
In 2012, Rogers retired from NASA after more than 41 years of service. He is currently employed as a software consultant.
He was born in Dillon, South Carolina, and received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from Clemson University and later a Master of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Florida Institute of Technology. He is married to the former Wanda Houston of Orlando, Florida, and lives in Titusville, Florida.
