On Dec. 20, the United States Space Force celebrates its fifth birthday. In honor of this milestone, UofL’s Center for Military-Connected Students introduces us to Pavel Buechter, a developmental engineer in the U.S. Space Force and a student in UofL’s online master of engineering in engineering management through the J.B. Speed School of Engineering.
Second Lieutenant Pavel Buechter was commissioned in 2023 and is currently stationed at Vandenberg Space Force Base in central California, where he is a mission integrator with the 2nd Range Operations Squadron, where he manages and integrates government and commercial launches at Vandenberg.
In this role, he works with contractors like Northrop Grumman, Firefly Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Stratolaunch and SpaceX.
He supports the launch service providers by making sure they abide by range policy and procedures, along with managing their use of government launch infrastructure.
Buechter represents the range and the Space Force to mission partners, and helps establish the path to mission success. His current focus is managing the restoration and revitalization of a launch complex to support its first mission in more than 15 years.
Buechter, who is cross trained as a Range Operations Commander (ROC), has overseen the launch of various commercial SpaceX launch missions.
In 2023, Buechter was awarded the U.S. Space Force quarterly award for commitment. He has also been awarded various team awards for mission integration and nuclear deterrence.
He said his favorite part of the job is getting to be a part of the team that, “launches rockets and puts satellites into orbit to support the warfighter downrange.”
Buechter said he chose UofL because of the fully online master’s degree and how well UofL supports its military-connected students. The program is also offered at a reduced tuition rate, which matches the military tuition assistance rate.
Buechter said his degree will help him better oversee Space Force projects and make him a better leader.
