NASA's Artemis II mission, with four astronauts aboard, completed a Moon flyby and is returning to Earth after breaking distance records. Two Colombian engineers, Liliana Villarreal and Diana Trujillo, lead key ground operations. Villarreal oversees landing and recovery, while Trujillo manages flight control.
The Orion capsule, built by Lockheed Martin, reached 252,756 miles from Earth, surpassing the Apollo 13 mission record from 1970. At its closest, it came within 4,067 miles of the lunar surface, the nearest in over 50 years. The astronauts completed the flyby and are now heading back after launching last week.
Liliana Villarreal, from Cartagena, serves as director of Landing and Recovery. She leads operations to ensure the safe return of the crew and spacecraft in the Pacific Ocean after splashdown. With Nasa since 2007, she was previously subdirector of flow for Artemis I, overseeing assembly and integration of the SLS rocket and Orion at Kennedy Space Center. She now directs recovery training and simulations for this first crewed mission.
Diana Trujillo, from Cali, is flight director at Johnson Space Center. She coordinates technology and operations from mission control, making real-time decisions for crew safety and lunar trajectory. Her background includes the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Perseverance rover on Mars.
Their contributions highlight women's growing leadership in aerospace and place Colombia in ambitious space exploration efforts.
