Meet Sian Cleaver, the 36-year-old engineer from Chelmsford, who is helping create history on NASA’s Artemis II mission. Through this mission, NASA will be sending astronauts on a historic journey around the Moon. Cleaver, who now works for Airbus in Germany, and her team are responsible for the propulsion system to the Orion crew spacecraft, which on a ten-day mission will take four astronauts into lunar orbit. That mission is scheduled to launch later this week. It will be the closest any humans have been to the Moon since 1972.
The Artemis II mission is a historic step toward the next chapter of human space exploration. It draws on the design of the European Service Module, which includes huge solar arrays designed and built by Cleaver and her team in Bremen. Cleaver expressed her excitement about being part of a mission that brings humans back toward the Moon, stating, “I always wanted to work in the space industry and now I am doing that on a human space flight mission, which for me is a dream come true.”
David Morris, 65, is chief engineer for space imaging at Teledyne e2v in Chelmsford. His work focuses on developing space imaging instruments that will one day work in deep space. Morris went on to say how exciting the Artemis II mission is, particularly in its ability to bring the world together. As he pointed out, if we rewind to 1969, we all probably wouldn’t forget the transformational experience of watching men walk on the Moon. He continued on, expressing his hope that such global excitement will follow when it occurs again. It will, as they put it in a very different context, “embolden the planet to imagine being the planet instead of just a bunch of countries.”
The crew of the upcoming Artemis II mission will conduct research and operational tasks in lunar orbit. They’ll do all this while laying the groundwork for future missions to Mars. Cleaver underscored the significance of this moment for younger generations who have never witnessed a moon landing. “There are a couple of generations who haven’t lived through a moon landing. It’s almost becoming ancient history in a way,” she remarked.
In closing, Morris reflected on the irreplaceable experience of working together with a brand new group of people toward this goal. To do that with an entirely new cargo of human beings on this planet I think is going to be really, really special. It’s so much more than that – it’s only the first step on our journey to Mars,” he added.
The Artemis II mission promises to reignite public interest in space exploration and showcase the contributions of engineers like Cleaver and Morris. Humanity is just a couple years away from returning to the Moon. No one knows better than the local engineers who are now leading the charge in this underwhelming, historic endeavor.
