Artemis I Launch Director & Plaque Award Ceremony | Kennedy Space Center

Artemis I Launch Director & Plaque Award Ceremony | Kennedy Space Center

Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson (center) acknowledged and honored members of the Artemis team during the inaugural Artemis Launch Director Awards

Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, center. At left is Jeremy Graeber, Artemis assistant launch director. At right is Wes Mosedale, technical assistant to the launch director. Following tradition from the Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs, the Artemis I plaque was added to the wall in Firing Room 1 by Blackwell-Thompson.

Award recipients included Assistant Launch Director Jeremy Graeber, who directly supports and assists Blackwell-Thompson during launch countdown operations

 Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson (left) acknowledged and honored members of the Artemis team during the inaugural Artemis Launch Director Awards

 Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, at left, signs the back of the Artemis I plaque

The Arms and Umbilicals (AUS) engineering team gather for a photograph during the Artemis launch director awards and plaque ceremony

 

Artemis team members gather around Firing Room 1 of the Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

 

Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Launch Director, Exploration Ground Systems at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

People Behind Artemis I Moon Mission Success

Artemis Launch Director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson acknowledged and honored members of the Artemis team during the inaugural Artemis Launch Director Awards, held March 24, 2023, inside Firing Room 1 of the Rocco A. Petrone Launch Control Center at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Award recipients included members of the crawler transporter team, which using Crawler-Transporter 2, carried the agency’s mobile launcher with the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft 4.2 miles from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39B for the launch of Artemis I. The first in a series of increasingly complex missions, Artemis I launched successfully at 1:47 a.m. EST on Nov. 16, 2022.

Charlie Blackwell-Thompson serves as launch director for NASA's Exploration Ground Systems Program, based at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. She oversaw the countdown and liftoff of NASA's Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft during its first flight test, called Artemis I. Named to the position in January 2016, Blackwell-Thompson is NASA's first female launch director. Her role includes leading and managing the launch operations planning and execution for the Exploration Ground Systems program and Exploration Systems Development Division, or ESD. She also serves as the cross-program lead to the Launch Integration team responsible for integration and coordination of launch operations across the three programs: SLS, Orion and EGS. In her role as launch director, she manages the development of all launch countdown plans, philosophy, and launch and scrub turnaround procedures and schedules, as well as training approaches.

Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Image Date: March 24, 2023

 

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