"My military experience prepared me for the long workdays."
Jason Peterson, range operations manager at NASA's Stennis Space Center, played a key role in the Artemis II mission. He was part of the team responsible for delivering critical video and communication feeds during the launch and splashdown of the historic lunar flyby.
A Local Path to NASA
Peterson grew up in DeLisle, Mississippi, just a stone's throw from the NASA facility. After serving 24 years in the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard, he worked as an aircraft dispatcher at the Airbus Final Assembly Line before joining NASA.
A Historic Mission
The Artemis II mission carried NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen on a lunar flyby. The crew reached a farthest distance from Earth of 252,756 miles.
The Moment of Return
Peterson was aboard the USS John P. Murtha and became the first person to spot the returning Orion capsule, marking a successful conclusion to the mission.