MSU alums manage Artemis II, support mission readiness
STARKVILLE — Matthew Ramsey, a Mississippi State University alumnus, is celebrating Wednesday’s launch of NASA’s Artemis II as the mission manager for the 10-day expedition around the moon, marking the first crewed mission since 1972 and a step toward returning humans to the lunar surface.
A North Mississippi native from Hernando, Ramsey enrolled at Mississippi State in the early 1990s as a pitcher and earned a bachelor’s degree in 1992 and a master’s degree in 1993 in aerospace engineering. He began working with NASA in 2002. Ramsey told NASA in a story on the agency’s website, “There are a lot of similarities between mission management and pitching. You control many aspects of the tempo, and there’s a lot of weight on your shoulders.”
Ramsey’s responsibilities included pre-launch daily preparations, addressing issues as deputy of the Artemis II management team and resolving any flight changes. “Most of my time is focused on making sure we’re ready to fly astronauts Reid, Victor, Christina and Jeremy to the Moon and bring them home safely,” he said in a NASA interview.
Also involved in preparing for the launch is Mississippi State alumnus Parker Glass of NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems, who oversaw budget development, project plans and resource allocation. Glass, who grew up near Langley Research Center, told NASA he first visited Mississippi State in 2014 and “fell in love with Starkville.” He graduated with a bachelor’s in business administration in 2018 and earned an MBA in 2022. “NASA needs everybody,” he said. We will provide more information as it becomes available.
