Erik was born in Berks County, Pennsylvania, of the United States of America, where he lived until the age of 18. His interests are space exploration, anything that flies, making things (Erik is a “Maker“), and composing/playing/enjoying music.
Aerospace Engineer
Erik built models of aircraft/spacecraft and flew numerous model rockets and gliders while growing up. He attended Space Camp in the summer of 1986, and won numerous awards throughout his Primary and Secondary education in mathematics and science in both the Governor Mifflin School District in Shillington, PA, and the Exeter Township School District in Reiffton, PA. In the summer of 1993, he was accepted to and attended Harvard University Summer School where he studied Biology (with laboratory experiments) under Dr. William Fixen. In late 1993, Erik applied to and was accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he obtained both an S.B. in 1998 and an S.M. in 2000, both in Aeronautics and Astronautics. For his Masters’ degree, Erik was accepted to be a Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Fellow, and performed research for his thesis under Tom Thorvaldsen and Professor John Deyst.
Erik’s professional aerospace career began while at MIT, where he held internships with the Lockheed-Martin corporation’s Missiles and Fire Control facility in Orlando, Florida in the summers of 1997 and 1998. While at Lockheed-Martin, Erik worked on enhancements to the LANTIRN targeting pod and advanced air-to-air passive ranging techniques. In his senior undergraduate year, Erik held an undergarduate research position working with MIT Lincoln Laboratory to wind tunnel test a palm-sized fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in the low-turbulence wind tunnel at MIT. In graduate school, Erik worked for the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, adapting navigation filter software of the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and Extended Range Guided Munition (ERGM) for micro-electromechanical inertial navigation components used to estimate head orientation and position of pilots/drivers/soldiers.
Upon graduation with his Masters’ degree, Erik accepted a job in the Systems Engineering Section (313) at the Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). While at JPL, Erik was a member of the Entry, Descent and Landing teams for the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, as well as the Mars Phoenix Lander. Erik worked on testing of the automated touchdown algorithm for the sky crane landing architecture which was used to land the Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity, and the Mars 2020 Rover, Perseverance on Mars. Erik also was the primary EDL simulation analyst for the winning Mars InSight Lander mission proposal.
Erik has also contributed to various landing technology tasks such as the NASA Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) program, Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) technology demonstrator project, and worked on commercialization of Terrain Relative Navigation algorithms through the NASA Tipping Point Program with Astrobotic, Inc.
Erik currently is in the Guidance and Control Section at JPL, where he is Technical Group Supervisor of the Entry, Descent, and Landing Guidance and Control Systems Group (3436), a position he has held since 2013.
Musician
As a musician, Erik was trained for 11 years on piano, 8 years on cello, and 6 years on tuba. Erik was a member of every musical organization that would include him all throughout his Primary and Secondary Education, and performed in Pennsylvania Music Educators’ Association County, District, Regional, and State music festivals on cello and County through Regional music festivals on tuba. As the pianist for his high school jazz ensembles, Erik won various jazz solo/performance awards at local high school jazz festivals.
Erik was also active in musical theater from age 15-18, holding various chorus roles in school and community theaters. He played cello in the pit for Rogers and Hammerstein’s Flower Drum Song in 1991 and was a chorus member in Stone/Styne/Merrill’s Sugar in 1992, both at Governor Mifflin High School. He moved to the stage as a chorus member in culminating playing the role of Bob Baker in Leonard Bernstein’s Wonderful Town at Governor Mifflin High School in 1993, and the role of Enoch Snow in Rogers and Hammerstein’s Carousel at Exeter Township High School in 1994. Erik also performed as a chorus member in Reading Civic Theatre’s production of Annie, Get Your Gun.
Currently, Erik composes, plays and records music privately in his home studio for amusement with his family.
Family
Erik is the only child of John T. and Sharon L. Bailey. John is a musician who performs on tuba and was an instrumental music educator in the Wilson and Exeter Township School Districts in Berks County, Pennsylvania. John also performs on tuba and can be heard in recordings of the Reading Pops Orchestra and the Ringgold Band. Sharon is both a homemaker and a Registered Nurse, certified in Medical/Surgical nursing. Once Erik went to Kindergarten, Sharon undertook her Nursing studies, received her RN, and has worked at St. Joseph Hospital, Aetna Insurance, and the offices of Reading Cardiothoracic Surgery. Sharon also is a jazz vocalist who performs in the SouthEast Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey area. She can be heard on her debut album “It Never Entered My Mind”, released in 2005. Interesting fact: John and Sharon met playing tuba in 1973 — so once Erik began playing tuba in Jr. High School, all three Baileys play the tuba! Every Christmas Eve, Erik and his Dad perform live carols for passers by in the Upper Hastings Ranch neighborhood of Pasadena.
In the summer of 2004 Erik met Terrika McDonald, and the two wed in 2008 at the Caltech Athenaeum. Terrika hails from Charles City, Iowa, and In addition to being “family HQ,” she is a custom clothier/costumer and sewing instructor at the Gooden School in Sierra Madre, CA. Terrika holds a Batchelor’s degree in Communications from Boston College, and was a project manager for Healthcare Partners up until 2005. Prior to that, Terrika was a manager at a movie theater in Nashville, TN and was a corporate costumer for Walt Disney Corporation Theme Parks in Kissimme, FL.
Erik and Terrika’s only son, Stephen, was born in March of 2010. Erik, Terrika, and Stephen reside with two cats, Trillian and Zaphod, in Pasadena, CA.
“I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.”
Dune, Frank Herbert 1965
Erik S. Bailey 