“Artemis II, this is launch director. You are go for launch.” Those were the words Charlie Blackwell-Thompson spoke as Artemis II — the most powerful rocket NASA has ever launched — took off from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, April 1. Born and raised in Gaffney before graduating from Clemson with a Computer Engineering degree in 1988, she became the first woman to serve as Launch Director for NASA in 2016.
She wasn’t the only Tiger that helped launch the first trip to the moon since 1972, which will send the four-person crew on a 10-day lunar flyby. Director of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Vanessa Wyche, is from Conway and graduated in 1985 with her Bachelor’s of Science and her Master’s in 1987. Another trailblazer, Wyche is the first Black woman in her post, where she has served since 2021.
