05/20/2026
Nycote is celebrating Women in Aerospace Day. In observation of this day, we want to recognize some of the vital women and teams who supported NASA’s Artemis II mission.
The Artemis II launch on April 1, 2026, on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, carried Orion and four crew members on a round‑trip lunar flyby mission. Christina Koch, an electrical engineer and 328‑day ISS veteran, was part of the crew flying beyond low‑Earth orbit (LEO) and executing the lunar flyby profile. Her experience with complex onboard systems and long‑duration operations contributed directly to mission ex*****on and crew safety.
Women were also central to Artemis II on the ground. Across NASA centers and industry partners, women engineers and technicians led subsystem design, structural and thermal testing, avionics integration, propulsion and hatch integration, and final Orion and SLS checkout. At Johnson Space Center, Director Vanessa Wyche oversees the center that provides flight operations, mission control, and systems engineering support for U.S. human spaceflight missions, including Artemis II.
Specialized teams in flight dynamics, guidance‑navigation‑control (GNC), aerothermodynamics, and mission planning used Artemis II telemetry and trajectory data to refine reentry models, update entry‑interface and corridor constraints, and reduce risk for subsequent missions. Science and exploration planning teams were integrating Artemis II observations into evolving models of the lunar environment to support future surface operations, including planned missions near the lunar south polar region.
The aerospace sector runs on the technical depth and operational judgment of women like these. We’re taking a moment today to recognize their contributions across engineering, operations, and leadership.
