Lt. Leonard Johnson

Lt. Leonard Johnson is a 19 year career firefighter and paramedic and was a member of the Technical Rescue Team for 7 years. He participated in 911 Ground Zero functions about one month after the incident occurred. He also assisted just north of Lake Ponchatrain shortly after Hurricane Katrina devastated the New Orleans region. About 5 years ago he was introduced to the Team America Rocketry Challenge which is sponsored by some 40 major aerospace companies along with NASA and the NAR: National Assoc. of Rocketry. At that point he became a volunteer teacher for the math and science rocketry program and our team was able to accomplish many great achievements and meet many famous people along the way. Our rocket team was the only team to ever compete and get to the National TARC Finals 5 years in a row. Along the way the St. Andrews Rocket Team ORION earned two consecutive one-year contracts with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center to design, build, test and launch a high-powered vehicle to an altitude of one mile AGL while conducting experiments via the students designed payloads during various points of the flight profile. Three of our teams students applied for the 8 week NASA - Glenn Research Summer Internship Inspire Program (STEM) and all three students were accepted into the Program. Each NASA facility only had slots for ten students from each NASA Region. Two of our students actually worked with the Glenn Research Engineers on the Upper-stage simulator of the Ares1-X which will hopefully launch sometime later this year. My education consists of: 1) Trade School 2) AAS: Biomedical Electronics 3) AAS: Fire Science Technology 4) Private Pilot 5) Self Taught. Our website for your viewing and reference is located at: www.orionrocketprojectsli.com