Remembering Hertz Fellow Dana Andrews

A pillar in the aerospace community, Andrews worked at Boeing for 34 years and was known for his contributions to the X-33/RLV program, the Boeing habitation module for the International Space Station and the aero-assisted orbital transfer vehicle. Andrews left Boeing in 2000 to join his son Jason Andrews' company, Andrews Space, Inc. where he served as the Chief Technology Officer for ten years. During that time, he oversaw projects aiming to commercialize space transportation. 

Andrews joined the University of Washington (UW) in the aerospae engineering department in 2012 where he was thrilled to mentor students and help fuel their potential as a capstone adviser. UW aeronautics and astronautics chair Kristi Morgansen said, “Dana Andrews not only leaves a legacy as a pioneering aerospace engineer, but his concern about the ripple effects of human decisions gave us much to think about. He also cared about the potential of our students and dedicated his time as a thoughtful mentor and capstone adviser over the years.”

Throughout this career, Andrews successfully led teams developing launch vehicles, orbital rockets and the space station. In 2020, he published, "Chasing the Dream," which chronologizes the history of advanced space transportation and theorizes on our space future.

Andrews earned a bachelor of science from the UW, a Masters from CalTech, and a PhD from Stanford as a Hertz Fellow in aeronautical engineering. 

View the full obituary in the Seattle Times. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating in Dana's honor towards the "Dr. Dana Andrews - Chasing The Dream" scholarship, benefiting undergraduate aeronautics and astronautics students at the UW who are pursuing careers in advanced space transportation.