ISU professor helping NASA with training, preparation for 2025 moon mission
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POCATELLO — An Idaho State University professor is helping train the astronauts who will take part in NASA’s 2025 crewed mission to the moon.
Shannon Kobs Nawotniak, associate professor of geosciences at ISU, is a member of NASA’s Joint EVA Test Team (JETT) 3, according to a news release from the university. The team has been tasked with preparing the astronauts for the Artemis III mission by running mission simulations on earth.
Artemis III will be the first manned moon mission since Apollo 17, in 1972, the release says.
“During the Apollo missions, astronauts were almost all test pilots,” Kobs Nawotniak says in the release. “Only one geologist was ever sent to the moon, even though most of the research that was done is related to geology. The Artemis astronauts will include geologists, biologists and other scientists, and we are figuring out how to support them from Earth. There will be a lot riding on their shoulders, and they will need active help from Mission Control to do good science while they’re up there.”
As part of her duties on the JETT 3 Team, Kobs Nawotniak is working alongside her former student, Angela Garcia.
Garcia graduated from ISU with a master’s degree in geology and now works for NASA as an exploration geoscientist.
“It was a true privilege to work alongside Shannon on the JETT 3 science team,” Garcia said in the release. “As my former advisor, Shannon taught and exemplified how to foster healthy relationships with colleagues and how to be a leader and follower. These lessons have been vital in my career, and I am so thankful to have had a role model like Shannon cheering me on every step of the way.”
Kobs Nawotniak echoed the sentiment, calling it “doubly wonderful” to assist in the first NASA manned moon mission in over 50 years and doing so with Garcia.
The JETT 3 Team has used sites across the nation for training and simulation exercises. Most recently, the team aided in a moonwalking test mission in Arizona, according to the release.
Kobs Nawotniak formerly worked with NASA in several capacities. She has also received grants from NASA to fund several past research projects.
“Space exploration has always been fascinating to me, but it never occurred to me growing up that I would someday actually be working with NASA to make it happen,” she said in the release. “Maybe someday I’ll be cool enough for it to all seem normal, but I’ve been working with NASA for close to a decade now and I haven’t gotten there yet.”