Listen to this audio excerpt from Elkin Norena, resident management officer, NASA’s Space Launch System Program:
NASA’s Elkin Norena has helped the agency 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 helped build the International Space Station, that provided a final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, and that performed critical science experiments that improved life right here on Earth.
Today, he continues that work as the manager of the Resident Management Office for SLS at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, helping launch America’s rocket – the SLS (Space Launch System) – and the Orion spacecraft with its international quartet of astronauts on the Artemis II mission to fly by the Moon and return home.
As resident manager, Norena provides onsite SLS support for NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems team that is responsible for preparing, stacking, testing, and launching SLS and Orion. He is also the eyes and ears for the SLS Program, providing an avenue of communications back to the program, which is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
It is the continuation of a childhood dream to be part of space exploration.
“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.”
The dream to join the space program 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 space shuttle launches like the ones he once watched on TV.
Elkin Norena
Resident management officer, NASA Space Launch System Program
Following college, he joined NASA contractor United Space Alliance at NASA Kennedy, and in 2008 he joined the NASA Kennedy team as a civil servant, working on the same spacecraft that inspired him to pursue the space program 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. It was exciting to be part of all those missions and build the International Space Station,” Norena said.
Using those experiences, he became one of the original SLS team members. He was a part of the teams that successfully launched Artemis I and II and is now critical to the upcoming Artemis III mission.
Away from the launch pad, Norena’s hobbies orbit around his teenage daughters, participating in their activities. He also keeps a keen eye on space and is an avid astrophotographer.
“I love capturing the Milky Way! I’ve traveled to Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and all across the western United States,” he said. “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,” he said. “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.”
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