Two South Carolina Women behind Artemis 1

CLEMSON, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - Two South Carolina women literally have their hands on the Artemis 1 mission.

Vanessa Wyche and Charlie Blackwell-Thompson graduated from Clemson University.

Wyche is the first Black woman to lead a NASA Space Center and works in Houston TX.

Blackwell-Thompson is the first female launch director for Artemis 1.

Professor Dan Noneaker is the Associate Dean for Research at Clemson’s School of Engineering. He said Blackwell-Thompson comes back often to show students they too can reach for the stars.

“She has been committed throughout her time that she has been working professionally at NASA at giving back to future scientists and future engineers whether that’s talking visiting k-12 classrooms to talk with them about what she does or they could do or coming back to Clemson”, said Noneaker.

He says right now the School of Engineering has about seven thousand students and about 25% of them are women. A number they hope continues to grow.

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