CHICAGO (WLS) — Artemis II’s astronauts splashed down in the pacific ocean off Southern California Friday evening.<\/p>\n
Space lovers across the Chicago area eagerly counted down to splashdown as they witnessed the historic moon mission.<\/p>\n
For one University of Illinois professor, this has been a full circle moment.<\/p>\n
LIVE COVERAGE |<\/strong> Artemis II’s grand moon finale has Pacific splashdown to cap NASA’s lunar comeback<\/a><\/p>\n University of Illinois Aerospace Engineer Professor Dr. Joseph Gonzalez, a Chicago native, worked on the Artemis program for almost 10 years. This mission is now inspiring his students and other young scientists in the making.<\/p>\n “I believe in the mission,” Dr. Gonzalez said. “I believe in what we’re trying to do in terms of going back to the moon, establishing a habitat, establishing our astronauts on there to stay and not just visit.”<\/p>\n For Dr. Gonzalez, watching Artemis II’s journey has been incredible.<\/p>\n Gonzalez grew up in Little Village. He worked on the Artemis program for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n Last week, he took his students to see the Artemis II launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.<\/p>\n “This orange section of the rocket all the way down to engine that’s called the core stage. That’s what powers up the rocket, in addition to the outside ones the solid rocket boosters. So I was part of the team and the systems engineering person for this part of it,” Dr. Gonzalez said. “I’ve done materials engineering. I’ve done fluids testing. I’ve done production support system engineering, and then also served on the chief engineering board for the program.”<\/p>\n