BREVARD COUNTY In recent times, there has been a growing effort to focus on space exploration from not only NASA, but also private entities like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic.

Beginning next year, the NASA-sponsored Artemis Missions will focus on deep-space travel for the coming decades, with the first stop at a familiar place: the Moon.

Launch Director of NASAs Exploration Ground Systems Program Charlie Blackwell-Thompson will lead her team toward making history as the Artemis mission aims to send the first female to the Moon by 2024.

Mrs. Blackwell-Thompson has also made history herself, as she is NASAs first female to fill the position of launch director.

What I am extremely passionate about is exploration. Its very intriguing and exciting all on its own, right? said Mrs. Blackwell-Thompson. When you start to consider other deep space destinations like one day perhaps on to Mars, to me, that is a terribly exciting mission to have in front of us.

Going beyond what you currently know or understand, I feel like that is in our countrys DNA, she continued. The other piece that is a little closer to me is what a team can do when were all working together. Youre really a part of something that is bigger than all of the individual pieces.

The Artemis I mission is currently scheduled to take place a year from now from Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center. The uncrewed mission will test NASAs Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket.

Already Mrs. Blackwell-Thompson and her team in Firing Room 1 are undergoing the launch countdown simulation to prepare for the first Exploration Mission launch.

There has to be a great deal of trust, especially on launch day, because youre depending on individuals who are monitoring their systems to make a call, whether the vehicle or the ground systems are go or no go, and thats based on data, Mrs. Blackwell-Thompson said.

It gives you a lot of confidence going into launch countdown that the team is going to perform and the way theyre going to work through issues when they come up or if they come up, she continued.

The Artemis II mission aims to send humans in orbit around the Moon aboard the Space Launch Systems and Orion, a first for humans in the 21st century.

The Artemis III will send the first crew to the Moon since 1972, and will include the first female to visit the Moon. The crew will land on the Moons lunar south pole by 2024.

The leap in technology compared to the last time the United States sent men to the Moon is huge. Back then, a staff of 400 employees were working in Firing Room 1 that monitored the launch countdown, according to Mrs. Blackwell-Thompson. Today, there are just under 100 employees, she added.

Going back to the Moon is important to our country for a number of reasons, Mrs. Blackwell-Thompson said. Were going back in a sustainable way. Theres a lot that we can learn from the Moon as we prepare for other deep space destinations, and other things we can learn by being in relative close proximity to our home planet.

For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis.

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NASA prepares to send uncrewed vessel to the Moon - Hometown News