Mr. Richard Horton

As Fifth Gait CEO, Richard creates, communicates, executes, and sustains a unified company strategy. Since joining the company in 2015, he has directed and completed radiation effects testing and overseen the growth of the Colorado Springs location into a state-of-the-art facility.

Richard began his career in 1994 as a Raytheon thermal analyst developing thermal and fluid math models of avionics cooling systems for the U.S. Navy E6-B Airborne Command Post. From there Richard continued his thermal analyst career at Lockheed Martin supporting programs at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, providing modeling and simulation for the Crew and Thermal Systems Division, which was responsible for extravehicular activity (EVA) during Space Shuttle missions and construction of the International Space Station (ISS). During his time at JSC, he was the lead thermal analyst for the next generation space suit that was under development for Lunar and Mars exploration missions. He was also the lead thermal analyst for a Mars lander payload under the Mars Global Surveyor program.

In 2000, Richard continued his work with NASA at Marshall Space Flight Center as the lead thermal analyst for a microgravity materials science experiment. In addition to building the thermal and geometric math model device, he supported thermal vacuum testing and design of the experiment. After a decade of working on NASA programs, Richard transitioned to supporting missile defense programs. Under the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program, he conducted development testing of rad-hard by design infrared optical bandpass filters and cold x-ray testing of infrared optical coatings at the OMEGA laser facility at the University of Rochester, at the L3 Double Eagle facility in San Leandro, CA, and at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL).

Since arriving at Fifth Gait Technologies in 2015, Richard has directed and completed radiation effects testing of micro-electronics and electro-optics, which includes performance characterization of infrared focal planes, prompt dose testing of electronics and circuit card assemblies, and neutron induced upset testing of electronics. He was appointed CEO at the start of 2026.

Richard received his B.S. in Physics with a Mathematics Minor from the University of Houston, Houston, TX in 1994. He began Graduate Studies in Astrophysics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL from 2006-2008.