I Am Artemis: Rebekah Tolatovicz

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I Am Artemis: Rebekah Tolatovicz

Listen to this audio excerpt from Rebekah Tolatovicz, a mechanical technician lead supporting the Orion spacecraft’s main contractor Lockheed Martin:

At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, there is a fleet of Orion spacecraft in work, and Rebekah Tolatovicz’s hands have helped build each one. Tolatovicz works to build, integrate, and test the spacecraft used during the Artemis II test flight, as well as those designed to carry humanity to the Moon on future Artemis missions.

Tolatovicz is a mechanical technician lead for the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, or ASRC Federal, supporting the Orion spacecraft’s main contractor Lockheed Martin. A typical day for Tolatovicz takes place inside NASA Kennedy’s Operations and Checkout Building, with Orion assembly and testing. Her work ranges from helping coordinate and lead technicians, to jumping into hands-on installations on components like hatches and engines, to collaborating with the engineering team.

“What I really like about the area that I’m in is we do so much,” said Tolatovicz. “From starting with the bare structure and installing giant parts and titanium pieces, to final integration where you’re installing the tiniest little components. I think that’s the coolest part. We don’t do just one technical thing — it’s all the technical things.”

Tolatovicz currently works on the Orion crew modules that could sustain the astronauts on future Artemis missions, and she played a large role in work on the Artemis II spacecraft that carried four astronauts on a mission around the Moon, splashing down April 10. This included testing, integration, and final installation and closeout before the spacecraft was prepared for fueling and stacking on the SLS (Space Launch System) rocket.

As Artemis II was the first crewed mission under NASA’s Artemis program, Tolatovicz recognized the impact of her work.

It’s really vital to stress the importance of what we do and know nothing is minuscule. Everything matters. It’s really important to pass that down on to the new hires and make sure that everybody has that perspective.”

Rebekah Tolatovicz

Orion Mechanical Technician Lead for ASRC Federal

Tolatovicz, who began as an intern with Lockheed Martin through Eastern Florida State College’s aerospace technician program, knows what it’s like to be a newcomer. She had been mentored by technicians who worked through the space shuttle era, which largely shaped her experience and outlook.

“At first I didn’t think I was going to make it,” said Tolatovicz. “But if you come in with a good attitude and want to learn — there’s so much you can learn from these guys, they have decades of knowledge to share. Once I got down on the floor and was working with them hands-on, I knew I could figure it out.”

Tolatovicz has been working on the Orion program for nine years. Since then, the Maine native has witnessed her work come to fruition on Orion’s uncrewed Artemis I test flight as well as the Artemis II mission around the Moon.

“It’s really amazing for me to be a part of NASA’s history and the next step,” said Tolatovicz. “I just really love my job, the team, and working through challenges. You don’t think about it when you’re putting things on, but then you get to tell somebody else that you installed the thrusters for the spacecraft, and you realize — man, that’s pretty cool.”

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Erika Peters

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NASA Selects Voyager for Seventh Private Mission to Space Station

NASA and Voyager Technologies have signed an order for the seventh private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, targeted to launch no earlier than 2028 from Florida.

This is the company’s first selection for a private astronaut mission to the orbiting laboratory, underscoring NASA’s ongoing investment in fostering a commercial space economy and expanding opportunities for private industry in low Earth orbit. 

“Private astronaut missions are accelerating the growth of new ideas, industries, and technologies that strengthen America’s presence in low Earth orbit and pave the way for what comes next,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “With three providers now selected for private missions, NASA is doing everything we can to send more astronauts to space and ignite the orbital economy. Each new partner brings fresh capabilities that move us closer to a future with multiple commercially operated space stations and a vibrant, sustainable marketplace in low Earth orbit.”

The mission, named VOYG-1, is expected to spend as many as 14 days aboard the space station. A specific launch date will depend on overall spacecraft traffic at the orbital outpost and other planning considerations.

Voyager will submit four proposed crew members to NASA and its international partners for review. Once approved and confirmed, they will train with NASA, international partners, and the launch provider for their flight.

“This award reflects decades of partnership with NASA and validates our belief that the infrastructure being built in low Earth orbit today is the launchpad for humanity’s future in deep space,” said Dylan Taylor, chairman and CEO, Voyager. “From the International Space Station’s first commercial airlock to the seventh private astronaut mission, Voyager is committed to making American human spaceflight stronger, more capable, and more sustainable at every step of the journey.”

The company will purchase mission services from NASA, including crew consumables, cargo delivery, storage, and other in-orbit resources for daily use. NASA will purchase the capability to return scientific samples that must remain cold during transit back to Earth.

NASA made the selection from proposals received in response to its March 2025 NASA Research Announcement.

Missions aboard the International Space Station, including private astronaut missions, help advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies in the unique microgravity environment. These commercial efforts in low Earth orbit help develop capabilities and technologies that could support NASA’s long-term goals for missions beyond low Earth orbit, including deep space exploration to the Moon and eventually to Mars through the agency’s Artemis program.

Learn more about NASA’s commercial space strategy at:

https://www.nasa.gov/commercial-space

-end-

Jimi Russell
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
james.j.russell@nasa.gov 

Anna Schneider / Joseph Zakrzewski
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
anna.c.schneider@nasa.gov / joseph.a.zakrzewski@nasa.gov

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NASA Launches Six CubeSats to International Space Station

Experiments and supplies bound for the International Space Station launched on April 11 as part of the agency’s Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 24 mission.

As part of the approximately 11,000 pounds cargo that lifted off inside the company’s Cygnus XL spacecraft, NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative (CSLI) launched six CubeSats built by U.S. educational institutions and non-profit organizations. These CubeSats are Coconut, Harvard Undergraduate CubeSat (HUCSat), Low Earth Orbit Platform for Aerospace Research and Development Satellite 1 (LEOPARDSat-1), and three Pleiades Rapid Orbital Verification Experiment System (PROVES) CubeSats: PROVES – Alcyone, PROVES – Atlas, and PROVES – Electra.

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Photo credit: SpaceX

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NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Maps Water Ice Throughout Cygnus X

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NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Maps Water Ice Throughout Cygnus X

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NASA’s SPHEREx Mission Maps Water Ice Throughout Cygnus X

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PIA26748 Figure A

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Description

An observation made by NASA’s SPHEREx (Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer) shows the chemical signatures of water ice (shown in bright blue) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (orange) in Cygnus X, one of the most active and turbulent regions of star birth in our Milky Way galaxy.

One of several maps of molecular clouds made by SPHEREx, this observation is detailed in a study published April 15, 2026, in The Astrophysical Journal. The study supports the hypothesis that interstellar ice forms on the surface of tiny dust particles no larger than particles found in the smoke from a candle. The findings show the densest regions of ice coincide with the densest regions of dust, and the dust shields the ice from the intense ultraviolet radiation emitted by newborn stars.

Figure A shows the same region, but in three different wavelengths assigned the colors green, blue, and red. This SPHEREx observation highlights the dark, dusty lanes that protect the water molecules from the intense radiation generated by newborn stars.

Although space telescopes such as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and the agency’s retired Spitzer have detected water, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other icy molecules throughout our galaxy, the SPHEREx observatory is the first infrared mission specifically designed to find such molecules over the entire sky, via the mission’s large-scale spectral survey.

Managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the SPHEREx observatory launchedMarch 11, 2025, and has the unique ability to see the sky in 102 colors, each representing a different wavelength of infrared light that offers distinctive information about galaxies, stars, planet-forming regions, and other cosmic features. By late 2025, SPHEREx had completed the first of four all-sky infrared maps of the universe, charting the positions of hundreds of millions of galaxies in 3D to help answer major questions about the cosmos, including those about the origins of water and life. 

The mission is managed by JPL for the agency’s Astrophysics Division within the Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The telescope and the spacecraft bus were built by BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado. The science analysis of the SPHEREx data is being conducted by a team of scientists at 13 institutions across the U.S. and in South Korea and Taiwan, led by Principal Investigator Jamie Bock, who is based at Caltech with a joint JPL appointment, and by JPL Project Scientist Olivier Doré. Data is processed and archived at IPAC at Caltech in Pasadena, which manages JPL for NASA. The SPHEREx dataset is freely available to scientists and the public.

For more information about the SPHEREx mission visit: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/spherex/

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