Robert E. Black, Jr. was born in Trenton, NJ. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering in 1961 and began working at Thiokol Chemical Corporation in Elkton, MD. During his 40 years working at Thiokol (now Alliant Techsystems) he worked in various engineering roles first as a preliminary design engineer and ballistician on the Apollo Tower Jettison Motor, the Saturn S-IC Retro, and the Surveyor Main Retro. In 1967 he became an applications research engineer and worked on a variety of novel applications. He also managed the mechanical and static testing groups in the research laboratory. In 1974 he returned to design engineering and became the lead project engineer for several projects. These included, in the late 70’s, the MX Buried Trench Weapons System (BTWS) gas generators. These three generators are still likely the world’s largest and were used to erect the canister through the roof of the buried concrete tube and overburden. In 1984 he became the lead design engineer for several rocket motor programs including the Trident II (D5) gas generators for the Thrust Vector Control systems of all three stages of that missile system which was operational for more than 25 years.

In 1986 he was promoted to Tactical Rocket Motor Project Engineering Manager, responsible for the design, development and production of all tactical rocket motors manufactured at Elkton. Some of the motor programs he was responsible for include Harpoon, Sea Gnat, Vertical Launch ASROC, MK46 Torpedo, the CREST escape system and multiple safe and arm and ordnance devices. As a chief engineer during this period he oversaw the transition of several rocket motor programs from Thiokol’s Huntsville, Alabama division when it closed. In 2001 he retired and became an independent consultant in the solid rocket motor field and has worked on the KEI stage 2 TVC and the Attitude Control System for the Orion Launch Abort system making him one of the few engineers who has worked on both the Apollo and Orion Vehicles. During his career he was granted approximately 7 patents in the field of solid rockets, igniters, ordnance, and explosives. He has been an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) member since 1964 and was awarded the best technical paper by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1980 for a paper on the BTWS generators.