Chris Birkinbine was born in Boise, Idaho where he graduated from Boise High School in 2000. Shortly after, he joined the US Army as a Combat Engineer in 2003. Chris deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2005, and obtained the rank of Sergeant before being medically discharged in 2008 for injuries sustained while deployed.

After leaving the military, Chris went back to school, majoring in Applied Physics. He graduated in 2013 with a B.S. in Applied Physics from the University of Idaho and immediately started his career as a Range Systems Engineer at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center (Later renamed to Armstrong).

Shortly after starting at NASA, Chris began his Master’s Degree, focusing on Space Engineering in the Space Studies program at the University of North Dakota. He is now finishing up his last year, having completed the following coursework:

• Survey of Space Studies I
• Survey of Space Studies II
• International Space Programs
• Introduction to Orbital Mechanics
• Human Factors in Space
• Asteroids, Meteorites & Comets
• Management of Space Enterprises
• Human Space Systems
• Risk Management
• Space Studies Colloquium
• and Independent Study

When Chris is not working at NASA or on graduate work, he is running his local rocketry club, Southern Kern Aeronautics and Rocketry, which is a National Association of Rocketry chartered club. He volunteers to teach both teachers and children about rocketry every year at Branch Elementary’s two-week long Rocket Challenge,
Aside from this, he also enjoys working on his side business’s, 5Hz Labs (a prototyping firm) and Iron Birch Forge and Foundry, or otherwise building and tinkering with anything he can get his hands on.

Chris lives in Rosamond CA, with his 12-year-old son Alex, and his girlfriend Carrie.