Charlie Blackwell-Thompson Guest Speaker, Behind the Curtain: STEM Journeys in Aerospace Launch Director, Exploration Ground Systems, NASA Charlie Blackwell-Thompson serves as NASA’s Artemis launch director, responsible for the overall planning and management of all Artemis Launch Countdown operations. As part of the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program at NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida, she directed the countdown and liftoff for NASA’s Artemis I mission in November 2022 and most recently led the launch operations of Artemis II on April 1, 2026, the first crewed mission to the Moon in more than 50 years. Blackwell-Thompson will be speaking at Behind the Curtain: STEM Journeys in Aerospace.