AUSTIN, Texas — As NASA’s Artemis II spacecraft carries astronauts farther from Earth than any humans have ever traveled, an Austin ISD graduate is the one calling the shots from Mission Control.
Emily Nelson, a graduate of LBJ High School’s Science, Math and Computer Academy, serves as chief flight director for the Artemis II mission, according to Austin ISD. The crew broke the all-time human spaceflight distance record Tuesday, traveling more than 250,000 miles from Earth.
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Nelson, born in Okinawa, Japan, and raised in Austin, was named NASA’s chief flight director in 2023. In the role, she manages 31 active flight directors and flight directors-in-training overseeing human spaceflight missions including the International Space Station and Artemis lunar missions. She joined NASA in 1998 as a flight controller and was selected as a flight director in 2007, becoming the 70th in the agency’s history.
“Emily’s tenure leading our flight control teams has proven that she is remarkably knowledgeable on the realities of human spaceflight and eminently composed when facing daunting challenges,” said Norm Knight, NASA’s director of flight operations, when Nelson was appointed.
Nelson earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 1998. UT was her plan even in high school, according to a yearbook photo posted by Austin ISD.
Artemis II lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 1. Astronauts reached the Moon’s sphere of influence Sunday, when lunar gravity began exerting more force on the Orion spacecraft than Earth’s gravity. The crew has since captured the first images humans have seen of the far side of the Moon.
The spacecraft is now headed back to Earth, where it is planned to land in the Pacific Ocean on Friday.
Austin ISD highlighted Nelson’s achievement on social media Tuesday, citing her as an example of what the district’s students can accomplish in STEM fields.