Houston, we have a podcast. Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center.

Episode 194, Artemis Launch Director. I'm Pat Ryan.

On this podcast we talk with scientists, engineers, astronauts and other folks about their part in America's space exploration program.

Today we're going to take another step in learning the details about the upcoming first flight of the Artemis program.

NASA's Artemis program is focused on returning American astronauts to the Moon

through the use of the space launch system rocket, the Orion spacecraft, the gateway

lunar outpost, a new lunar lander, and the ground systems that support them all.

Artemis is about going to the moon in a sustainable way, that is to go to the moon to stay

and learn how to support astronauts in that environment, in the process getting ourselves

ready to go on from there to Mars. Back in January

Gary kicked off a series by talking to the Artemis mission manager Mike

Serraven to get us started understanding what all is involved and this week we take another step.

When Artemis 1 launches on the first test flight of the SLS with Orion a top, that launch

team will work under the direction of Charlie Blackwell Thompson, the launch That launch

will work under the direction of Charlie Blackwell Thompson, the launch director for the Exploration Ground Systems Program

at the Kennedy Space Center.

A veteran of more than 30 years in the business at KSC, and NASA's first female launch

director, Blackwell Thompson started her career with Boeing as a payload flight software

engineer and worked as lead electrical engineer for multiple Hubble Space Telescope

Servicing missions before joining NASA as a test director in the Launch and Landing Division

in 2004, working pre-launch processing, tanking, and launch

countdown operations.

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