The women driving Artemis II, on the ground and beyond

Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch smiles during a press conference at the NASA Johnson Space Center on April 16, 2026, in Houston, Texas.
Christina Koch is a NASA astronaut, electrical engineer, and record-holding space flyer chosen as a Mission Specialist for the Artemis II mission. As part of the four-person crew in April 2026, she made history as the first woman to travel beyond low Earth orbit and journey around the Moon.

Janet Petro, the director of Kennedy Space Center, addresses recovery teams aboard the USS John P. Murtha following Artemis II operations on April 11, 2026, at Naval Base San Diego.
Janet Petro is the current director of NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and recently served as NASA's Acting Administrator from January to July 2025. A former U.S. Army helicopter pilot and West Point graduate, Petro made history as the first woman to lead both KSC and NASA—underscoring the expanding leadership of women across mission-critical roles. She helped lead the Artemis II mission.

Charlie Blackwell-Thompson is seen during an Artemis II launch countdown pre-test briefing on March 28, 2026, at Kennedy Space Center.
Thompson became NASA's first female launch director in 2016 and made history as the launch director of the Artemis II mission. She oversaw the countdown and liftoff of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft during the first flight test of Artemis I, as well as NASA's first crewed mission around the Moon in Artemis II.

Lakiesha Hawkins, the acting deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, addresses recovery teams aboard the USS John P. Murtha at Naval Base San Diego following Artemis II operations on April 11, 2026.
Hawkins helped oversee the directorate responsible for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, the Orion spacecraft, and the ground systems that enabled the Artemis II launch. During the Artemis II flight, she was a key figure in providing mission updates, ensuring the crew's safety, and managing flight objectives as they prepared for their return to Earth. Hawkins has been a primary spokesperson for the mission, explaining its technical goals and progress to the public via major news outlets.

Lilian Villarreal, Artemis II landing and recovery director at Kennedy Space Center, addresses NASA and U.S. military teams aboard the USS John P. Murtha as they prepare for Orion’s return in the Pacific Ocean on April 10, 2026.
As the recovery lead of Artemis II, she was responsible for the safety of both the returning astronauts and the recovery teams in the open ocean. She detailed the rigorous protocols for the spacecraft's reentry into Earth's atmosphere at speeds reaching 25,000 mph and the subsequent splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Villarreal coordinated and trained diverse teams, including NASA experts and the U.S. Navy, through numerous undersea and open-water recovery rehearsals. On April 10, 2026, she successfully directed the final recovery operations after the mission's perfect splashdown, ensuring astronauts were extracted and reached medical care within a strict two-hour window. Before this role, she also contributed to the Artemis program as the deputy flow director for Artemis I, where she managed the integration and testing of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

Lisa Seiler, Artemis II landing and recovery deputy director at Kennedy Space Center, works alongside NASA and U.S. military teams inside the Landing Force Operations Center aboard the USS John P. Murtha, monitoring the recovery of the Orion spacecraft in the Pacific Ocean on April 10, 2026. Based at Kennedy Space Center, Seiler is central to the safe return of the Artemis crew and their spacecraft after their mission beyond the Moon. As a leader within the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) division, Seiler’s work specifically focused on the critical final phase of the mission: returning the astronauts from the open ocean. Her key contributions included strategic recovery planning, personnel training, hardware and procedure oversight and mission control support.

Lisa Mazzuca, the mission manager for the Search and Rescue Office at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, is seen aboard the USS John P. Murtha on April 8, 2026, as teams prepare for the return of the Artemis II crew off the coast of California.
She is a leading technical authority on satellite-aided emergency technology and has spent over three decades at NASA innovating life-saving systems. For the Artemis II mission, which returned to Earth in April 2026, Mazzuca played a vital role in ensuring the safety and recovery of the crew. Her contributions include leading the NASA SAR team responsible for the technologies used to locate the crew and spacecraft after splashdown. Mazzuca oversaw the development and integration of Advanced Next-Generation Emergency Locators (ANGEL) beacons. She was a key leader during Underway Recovery Test 11 (URT-11), where NASA and the Department of Defense practiced safety and recovery procedures off the coast of San Diego. Additionally, as a mission manager, she ensured that astronautical engineering standards met the rigorous requirements for human-crewed lunar orbits.

The image shows part of NASA’s Science Evaluation Room (SER), a facility inside the Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The image highlights women—many of them lunar geologists—working in mission control, whose expertise and leadership have been instrumental to the success of Artemis II.