| Mitchell Burnside Clapp | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Education: | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Spouse: | TJ Burnside Clapp |
| Employer: | Pioneer Rocketplane, Embassy Aerospace, DARPA, USAF Test Pilot School, Millennium Space Systems |
| Significant Advance: | Aerial propellant transfer technology for spaceplanes |
Mitchell Burnside Clapp is an Australian-American aerospace engineer, former test pilot, and musician. He received Bachelor of Science degrees in Physics, Aeronautics and Astronautics, and Russian, as well as a Master of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[1]
In the late 1980s and 1990s, Burnside Clapp attended the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School and worked on the YA-7F and DC-X projects.[2]
Together with Robert Zubrin and Chuck Lauer, Burnside Clapp founded Pioneer Rocketplane in 1996.[3] He and Zubrin authored a piece in the MIT Technology Review of January/February 1998 calling for more air-launched rockets.[4]
From 2011 to 2015, Burnside Clapp served as a program manager at DARPA.[1]
He is married to fellow filker TJ Burnside Clapp, formerly of the musical group Technical Difficulties. They have three children.[2] He has won two Pegasus Awards for his music.[2]