She Builds Moon Rockets: Inside NASA's Artemis Program

Rebekah Tolatovicz installs everything from massive titanium structures to the tiniest components inside spacecraft designed to carry humans to the Moon, and she loves every minute of it.

As a mechanical technician lead at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Tolatovicz has worked on every Orion spacecraft in the Artemis program. Her role spans coordinating teams, installing hatches and engines, and collaborating with engineers to bring these complex machines to life.

"We don't do just one technical thing. It's all the technical things," Tolatovicz said. She starts with bare structures and follows each spacecraft through final integration, watching them transform from empty shells into vessels capable of sustaining human life in deep space.

Tolatovitz played a major role preparing the Artemis II spacecraft that successfully carried four astronauts around the Moon, splashing down on April 10. She handled testing, integration, and final installations before the capsule was fueled and stacked onto the massive Space Launch System rocket.

Her journey started nine years ago as an intern through Eastern Florida State College's aerospace technician program. She nearly quit at first, doubting whether she could succeed in such a demanding field.

But veteran technicians from the space shuttle era took her under their wing. "If you come in with a good attitude and want to learn, there's so much you can learn from these guys," she said. "Once I got down on the floor working with them hands-on, I knew I could figure it out."

Why This Inspires

Now Tolatovicz passes that same mentorship forward to newcomers joining the program. She emphasizes that nothing they do is insignificant when human lives depend on their work. "It's really vital to stress the importance of what we do and know nothing is minuscule. Everything matters," she explained.

The Maine native has witnessed her handiwork fly on both the uncrewed Artemis I test flight and the recent crewed Artemis II mission. She currently builds crew modules for future Artemis missions that will land astronauts on the lunar surface.

"You don't think about it when you're putting things on, but then you get to tell somebody else that you installed the thrusters for the spacecraft, and you realize—man, that's pretty cool," Tolatovicz said.

She's now part of NASA history, helping write the next chapter of human space exploration one careful installation at a time.