{"690193":{"#nid":"690193","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Back to the Moon and Beyond","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EFor generations of scientists, engineers, and other NASA personnel, including many who were not yet alive in 1969, the Apollo Moon landing was a watershed moment\u2014the first steppingstone of space exploration. So in 2017, when the agency announced that after 45 years the Artemis program would finally return humans to the lunar surface, many people working at NASA were elated.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe were finally doing what everyone wanted to do,\u201d says Liliana Villarreal, AE 96, MS AE 97, who had helped process payloads for shuttle delivery to the International Space Station before being tapped as director of the Artemis II landing and recovery at NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center. \u201cOur team has always been thinking of going farther. That\u2019s our driving ambition, our human instinct for exploration.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EA New Mission to the Moon\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn many ways, this trip to the Moon will be different, Villarreal explains. Artemis is about going to the Moon to stay, to set up human settlements, and learn what it takes to survive and thrive in extraplanetary conditions. Launched in 2022, Artemis I was an uncrewed test flight of NASA\u2019s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft. (Among the flight directors preparing for this mission was fellow Tech grad Heidi Brewer, AE 05.) Artemis II will use the SLS to carry four astronauts around the Moon to test the equipment and crew in deep-space exploration, and Villarreal oversees the recovery of the crew and Orion capsule upon their return to Earth after their mission around the Moon. Artemis III will return humans to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EPlanning for a Lunar Base\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOf course, for people to survive on the Moon, they\u2019ll need an independent source of water\u2014essential for human life by itself and as a potential source of breathable oxygen, not to mention as a fuel and propellant. Here too, Tech alumnae were integral in sending ahead equipment to find and drill for water beneath the lunar surface. Jackie Williams Quinn, CE 89, and Janine E. Captain, PhD Chem 05, led NASA\u2019s PRIME-1 team, which landed a combination space drill and spectrometer on the Moon in March 2025. The lander ended up on its side, so the drill wan\u2019t able to operate, but the spectrometer was still able to gather crucial data, which was computer-modeled with help from Georgia Tech\u2019s Regent\u2019s Professor Thomas Orlando. \u201cIt operated flawlessly,\u201d says Quinn. \u201cThe landing environment was more rugged than we had thought, but we showed that we could take commercial equipment and modify it to enable long-term habitation on a celestial body.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe wide range of roles that Georgia Tech graduates have in getting humanity back to the Moon underscores the team effort involved in undertaking such an endeavor. In fact, there\u2019s a Yellow Jacket in NASA\u2019s administrative offices helping oversee the entire project. \u201cYou\u2019re not going anywhere without the people on the ground,\u201d says Casey Swails, Mgt 07, NASA\u2019s Deputy Associate Administrator. \u201cEveryone sees the rockets and the landers, but they don\u2019t see the people who make these missions happen. We rely on universities like Georgia Tech that are forward-leading, with students pushing boundaries and thinking about things differently. It doesn\u2019t matter your major\u2014I switched out of engineering. There is space in space for everyone.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch3\u003EArtemis II Gets a Lift from Yellow Jackets\u003C\/h3\u003E\u003Cp\u003EArtemis II, which launched April 1, 2026, was the first crewed mission to the lunar orbit in more than 50 years and the farthest that humans have traveled from earth.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDozens of alumni contributed to NASA\u2019s historic mission, from Shawn Quinn, EE 90, who led the team responsible for systems that processed and launched the rocket and spacecraft to Liliana Villarreal, AE 96, MS AE 97, who oversaw the astronauts\u2019 safe return as Artemis II Landing and Recovery director.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gtalumni.org\/news\/2025\/back-to-the-moon-and-beyond.html\u0022\u003EClick here to see the full list alumni who are helping the agency explore the Moon and lay the foundations for crewed missions to Mars \u0026gt;\u0026gt;\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMeet the Georgia Tech alumni who are making Artemis II possible.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Meet the Georgia Tech alumni who are making Artemis II possible."}],"uid":"35575","created_gmt":"2026-05-07 17:30:35","changed_gmt":"2026-05-07 20:47:10","author":"adavidson38","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-04-30T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-04-30T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680218":{"id":"680218","type":"image","title":"Artemis_II_MissionMap_still_2025.png","body":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Artemis II flight path traces humanity\u2019s first crewed journey beyond low Earth orbit in more than 50 years, guided in part by Georgia Tech alumni helping plan, execute, and safely bring the mission home. \u003Cem\u003EPhoto via NASA.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1778175042","gmt_created":"2026-05-07 17:30:42","changed":"1778175610","gmt_changed":"2026-05-07 17:40:10","alt":"This artist\u2019s concept depicts the nominal trajectory for NASA\u2019s Artemis II test flight, an approximately 10-day mission that will send four astronauts around the Moon and back. The agency\u2019s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket and Orion spacecraft will launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Orion will fly two orbits of Earth and then venture around the Moon in a figure-eight pattern before returning to Earth.","file":{"fid":"264462","name":"Artemis_II_MissionMap_still_2025.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/07\/Artemis_II_MissionMap_still_2025.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/07\/Artemis_II_MissionMap_still_2025.png","mime":"image\/png","size":2063466,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/07\/Artemis_II_MissionMap_still_2025.png?itok=ckt00dPL"}},"680219":{"id":"680219","type":"image","title":"Villarreal_KSC-20230201-PH-KLS01_0029large.jpg","body":"\u003Cp\u003ELiliana Villarreal, AE 96, MS AE 97, oversaw the astronauts\u2019 safe return as Artemis II Landing and Recovery director.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1778175233","gmt_created":"2026-05-07 17:33:53","changed":"1778175233","gmt_changed":"2026-05-07 17:33:53","alt":"Liliana Villarreal in front of artemis capsule.","file":{"fid":"264463","name":"Villarreal_KSC-20230201-PH-KLS01_0029large.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/07\/Villarreal_KSC-20230201-PH-KLS01_0029large.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/07\/Villarreal_KSC-20230201-PH-KLS01_0029large.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":110945,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/07\/Villarreal_KSC-20230201-PH-KLS01_0029large.jpg?itok=ELa8fbns"}},"680220":{"id":"680220","type":"image","title":"Nunez-Garzon2.jpeg","body":"\u003Cp\u003EUlises Nunez Garzon, AE 17, MS AE 20, PhD AE 23, is the Artemis II Nominal Mission Co-lead for Orion Mission Design Team.\u003C\/p\u003E","created":"1778175329","gmt_created":"2026-05-07 17:35:29","changed":"1778175329","gmt_changed":"2026-05-07 17:35:29","alt":"Ulises Nunez Garzon at TARGO console.","file":{"fid":"264464","name":"Nunez-Garzon2.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/07\/Nunez-Garzon2.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/05\/07\/Nunez-Garzon2.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":182708,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/05\/07\/Nunez-Garzon2.jpeg?itok=oz_zudWV"}}},"media_ids":["680218","680219","680220"],"groups":[{"id":"660370","name":"Space"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"194975","name":"go-space"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"193657","name":"Space Research Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETony Rehagen\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis story was originally published by the \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gtalumni.org\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EGeorgia Tech Alumni Association\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cem\u003E.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}