NASA Engineer Jaclyn Kagey Preps Astronauts for the Moon

Jaclyn Kagey's job is literally out of this world: teaching astronauts how to walk on the Moon again.

As NASA's Artemis III spacewalk lead, Kagey spends her days planning every step astronauts will take when they return to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972. She creates detailed timelines, develops procedures, and guides crews through training for humanity's biggest space exploration milestone in a generation.

Her career spans over 25 years of human spaceflight, starting when she watched space shuttle launches as a student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Those launches sparked a dream that became reality when she and her husband both landed jobs at NASA.

One moment defined her career early on. When a critical ammonia leak threatened the International Space Station, Kagey's team had just 36 hours to plan and execute an emergency spacewalk. They pulled it off, saving the station and proving what human ingenuity can accomplish under pressure.

But Kagey's impact goes beyond mission planning. Standing on the shorter side, she once couldn't complete a full spacesuit test because the legacy suit was simply too big for her body. The suit fit at first, but its proportions made it impossible to move properly during the exercise.

Why This Inspires

That frustrating experience turned Kagey into an advocate for better spacesuit design. She pushed for suits that would work for astronauts of all body types, not just those who fit a narrow size range.

Her advocacy came full circle recently when she completed her first successful test in Axiom Space's new lunar spacesuit. The AxEMU is designed to fit a much wider range of astronauts. "It's exciting to literally fit into the future of spacewalks!" she said.

Now, as Artemis missions move closer to launch, Kagey works with scientists and industry partners to define how humans will explore the Moon's south polar region. No human has ever visited this area, making every procedure she develops genuinely new territory.

Her advice for handling the pressure? Stay flexible. "Things rarely go exactly as planned," she explains. "Your job is to respond in a way that keeps the crew safe and the mission moving forward."

After a quarter century of preparing others for space, Kagey is helping write the playbook for humanity's next giant leap.