NAPLES, Fla. — Naples native, Elias Myrmo, was announced as one of NASA's newest flight directors to oversee operations of the International Space Station, commercial crew, and Artemis missions to the moon.
Myrmo studied computer science at the University of Central Florida and joined NASA in 2008.
“The NASA Flight Director's job in real-time is making decisions to keep our crews safe and execute our mission,” said Myrmo.
The mission of Artemis 1, is said to land the first woman on the surface of the moon. Artemis 1 is scheduled to take off later this year at the Kennedy Center.
“These highly qualified individuals will be responsible for keeping astronauts safe and executing human spaceflight missions,” said NASA Director of Flight Operations Norm Knight. “There were many outstanding candidates, both from within the agency and across the spaceflight industry, which is a great indication of the tremendous talent we have here at NASA and within the growing spaceflight community.”
In 2010, Myrmo became a communication radio frequency onboard network utilization specialist. Myrmo logged more than 2,000 hours at the console in support of International Space Expeditions. In 2016, he was the leader of the Exploration Flight Dynamics and Operations Group responsible for training the Artemis flight dynamics officers.
Before working on the Artemis program, Myrmo shared that working in Flight Control was very inspiring and fulfilling.
“Working in that room, and supporting the astronauts was one of my dreams,” said Myrmo.
Myrmo encourages people in the space community who are interested in pursuing the industry to study hard in math and science and there will be plenty of opportunities.
“Getting out here to be a flight controller, had a pretty rigorous program where they are constantly evaluating. Right before I got certified, I did this eight-hour knowledge board check where there were tons of questions and I ended up failing it,” said Myrmo. He shared that at that moment he questioned himself, ‘Am I really ready for this?’
However, Myrmo did not let that stop him; in fact, he went back and was able to read the things he stumbled upon and hit the books harder than ever to turn it around. Now, he is one of seven selected as a NASA Flight Director.
Myrmo, who has accomplished so much with NASA as it is says that his main goal for the next 10 years is to be in mission control when people start landing on the moon.
“I think the Artemis program will inspire another generation and to be part of that team that lands the first woman on the surface of the moon in the next 10 years would be an amazing privilege and the capstone to an amazing career,” said Myrmo.
