NASA’s Elkin Norena has helped launch more than a dozen space shuttle missions - that’s more than a dozen crews to low Earth orbit and more than a dozen historic missions. They were missions that built the International Space Station, gave the Hubble Space Telescope one last tune-up, and performed critical science experiments that improved life right here on Earth (because apparently, space science can be useful down here too).

Today, he continues that work as the manager of the Resident Management Office for the Space Launch System (SLS) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. His job: helping launch America’s rocket - the SLS - and the Orion spacecraft with its international quartet of astronauts on the Artemis II mission to fly by the Moon and come home. Because once you’ve helped launch a dozen shuttles, you might as well aim for the Moon.

As resident manager, Norena provides onsite SLS support for NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems team - the folks responsible for preparing, stacking, testing, and launching SLS and Orion. He is also the eyes and ears for the SLS Program, relaying communications back to headquarters at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Think of him as the world’s most highly credentialed lookout.

It’s the continuation of a childhood dream. “When I was a kid in New Jersey, I watched a space shuttle launch in class one day,” said Norena. “When I watched the power of launch and the brave astronauts going to explore, I knew I had to be a part of that one day. I wanted to become an astronaut.”

That dream led the Colombia native to the University of Central Florida in Orlando, where he majored in computer engineering - just miles from the Space Coast and in view of actual shuttle launches, not just the TV ones. After college, he joined NASA contractor United Space Alliance at Kennedy, and in 2008 he became a civil servant, working on the very spacecraft that inspired him as a child.

“I started off in the Space Shuttle Program as an electrical engineer. Then I moved into the firing room for 17 different shuttle missions as a flight termination engineer,” Norena said. “It was exciting to be part of all those missions and build the International Space Station.”

Using those experiences, he became one of the original SLS team members. He was part of the teams that successfully launched Artemis I and is now critical to the upcoming Artemis III mission. When not at the launch pad, Norena’s hobbies orbit around his teenage daughters (literal orbit, given his astrophotography hobby). He’s an avid astrophotographer: “I love capturing the Milky Way! I’ve traveled to Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and all across the western United States. A great spot that’s closer for me is Dry Tortugas National Park beyond Key West.”

No matter how he explores space, Norena believes Artemis II is more than just a mission. “This is historic. I grew up watching the shuttle missions, learning about Apollo, and wanting to be part of those Moon missions. We built the space station. The space shuttle explored space and technology on many levels. Now, it’s our turn with Artemis to get back to the Moon, and this time to stay there. I’m excited to be part of the generation that does that.”