Employee Spotlight Blog | Sue Lind & Payton Simmons

Learning by Doing

For Sue and Payton, working alongside the Durango test team has provided a close-up look at how one of the nation's leading hot-fire testing facilities operates - and what it takes to support fast-moving propulsion programs.

The work extends well beyond engineering at a computer or in CAD. It can mean working outside in the elements, building and modifying components, operating machinery, troubleshooting hardware, and supporting hot-fire operations.

"You can come in with a plan for the day, and then something happens that changes that plan," Sue said. "You have to be flexible and willing to jump in wherever you're needed."

Payton has spent much of his time supporting upgrades to Agile's Animas test stand. Working directly with the hardware as systems are built, modified, and integrated has given him a deeper understanding of not only how individual components function, but how they come together as part of a larger test operation.

That day-to-day exposure is an important part of their year in Durango. Working alongside the test team through hardware updates, safety considerations, thruster turnovers, and active test operations gives Sue and Payton both technical experience and firsthand insight into troubleshooting, coordination, and decision-making required to support fast-moving programs.

What You Can't Learn from a Manual

Some of the most valuable lessons Sue and Payton are taking from Durango are the ones that can't be fully captured in a procedure.

"A manual can tell you how something is supposed to work, but it can't show you every way it can go wrong," Sue said.

Learning to recognize when something isn't behaving as expected, trace the problem, and determine what to do next comes through experience. Just as important is working alongside people who have encountered those situations before.

Sue has particularly valued the Durango team's willingness to explain not only how something is done, but why. That transfer of knowledge gives her a deeper understanding of the reasoning behind the systems and processes she'll eventually help operate in Tulsa.

Payton has found that the learning extends well beyond the hardware. A recent discussion about coordinating propellants and other consumable supplies reinforced how much work happens behind the scenes to keep a test operation running and ready to meet demand.

Those lessons are difficult to replicate in a classroom or capture in a manual. They are also part of why Agile is taking an intentional approach to building the STC team: standing up a new testing capability means developing not only the hardware and systems, but also the people and operational knowledge needed to run it.

Taking Durango Experience to Tulsa

Tulsa will have its own systems, requirements, and challenges. The goal isn't to recreate Durango. It is to take the knowledge built through years of testing there and use it as a foundation for STC's own operations.

For Sue, that means developing a deeper understanding of the systems behind the procedures.

"When I go back to Tulsa, I don't want to only know which button to push or which procedure to follow," she said. "I want to understand what's happening behind it and why."

She also wants to carry forward the approach she has seen from the Durango team: attention to detail, a strong safety culture, a willingness to troubleshoot, and an understanding of the role each person plays in a successful test.

Payton's work on the Animas upgrades has given him another perspective. Being involved as systems are modified and integrated has helped him see how individual pieces fit within the architecture of a larger test stand - knowledge he expects to draw on as STC is assembled and commissioned.