九九福利网

K. Renee Horton鈥檚 path to helping power humanity鈥檚 return to the moon didn鈥檛 follow a straight line. A Baton Rouge native and LSU graduate, Horton turned early setbacks into fuel, ultimately carving out a career at NASA that connects her directly to the Artemis program. 

From years spent 鈥渂oots on the ground鈥� at NASA鈥檚 Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans to her research on advanced welding techniques, Horton has helped shape the core systems that enable deep space exploration.  

What began as a childhood dream of going to space evolved into something even greater: ensuring others can get there鈥攁nd return safely.  

鈥淲hen it really hit me鈥攖he importance of the work that I鈥檝e done and what that means for mankind鈥攖hat鈥檚 so heavy. It鈥檚 so beautiful,鈥� she said. 

Horton, who received her undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from LSU in 2002, is a 2020 LSU Alumni Hall of Distinction honoree. We asked her about her career journey. Answers were edited for brevity and clarity: 

Tell us about your personal connection to Artemis. 

So very few people get to watch their dissertation live and in full effect. And for me, my dissertation is actually the welding we do, the circumferential welding, for Artemis. And so, I got to watch my dissertation launch the first time on Artemis I, and I get to watch it again on Artemis II. 

Artemis II is really special to me because I got a chance to meet (NASA astronaut and Artemis II pilot) Victor Glover and his family, his wife, and his kids. And so, just that personal connection to someone actually riding on it is really different for me. 

I spent about 12 years working on the space side of NASA. And now I'm currently working in aeronautics. But over my 12 years, I spent almost all of them in New Orleans working at our rocket factory, the Michoud Assembly Facility. 

Please tell us about your dissertation and how you came to help create the rocket that's sending us to the moon. 

My dissertation actually is the material characterization and strength of the circumferential welding, or they call it self-friction stir welding. The type of welding that I studied is robotic welding, and I looked at what the failure path was, what the failure mechanisms were, and the strength associated with them. 

I worked as a graduate student for several summers at NASA, and then when it came time to decide what my area would be, I chose the NASA work. I was hired at NASA eight months after graduation, and I moved back to Huntsville, Alabama. I moved back home (to New Orleans) in 2014 and was there until 2021, boots on the ground.  

You were born and raised in Baton Rouge. Tell us about that. 

Actually, I鈥檓 a product of McKinley High School. I graduated at 16, and had joined the Air Force ROTC, which was at LSU. They sent me to get my physical, and during the physical, at 17, I actually found out I was hearing impaired, which meant I did not qualify for the Air Force. 

Right then, it was like, oh my God, my dream. It was my dream to become a pilot and then an astronaut. My grandmother and them will say as long as they can remember I was in love with being a scientist. But definitely I fell in love with space at 9 when I got a telescope. And so, it was just so disheartening. 

You left LSU at that point, got married, had children, traveled overseas, and eventually divorced. What brought you back to LSU?  

When I got pregnant with my daughter and she was born, I was like, I probably need to get myself together and do something. I was 27 and so I decided I was going back to school. And I moved, the three kids and me, and I guess the rest is history, as they say.  

I always dreamed of going to space or putting people into space. Well, first it was, 鈥淚 want to go to space,鈥� and then that didn't happen. I was out of school for 10 years. So then when I went back, I realized, wait a minute, maybe the dream to put people in space isn't a bad dream either. 

When I first started working for NASA鈥攁nd my very first project there was to create hardware鈥攚e created this piece of hardware in Huntsville, Alabama. And we had not welded hardware there for 30 years, and they allowed us to write our names on it. And I felt like right then, and that was my moment of going into space. It was just so surreal to watch something I had worked on, something that had my name on it, be launched into space.  

Just being at the factory gave me the opportunity to shake hands with astronauts, talk to them, be personal with them, and see just how human they are. And how important my job is. To make sure that they get back. 

Your expertise is in advanced welding techniques, as they relate to the core stage of a rocket. Can you explain the importance of this? 

People think about the top of the rocket all the time because that's what comes back home. That's what gets the glory in the end. But they aren't getting there without the ride, and core stage is the ride. And that is what is so amazing about New Orleans. The core stage is built and assembled in New Orleans. 

My team was actually awarded a space flight awareness award for the engine installation because the engine section, the engine integration, was a new development鈥攕omething we had never done before in history like that. And it was just amazing to be able to be a part of that team.  

As for welding, everybody's heard the saying, "You're only as strong as your weakest link," right? And so, if you're thinking about a chain and if one of those chains is damaged, that's where you're going to break at the weakest link. 

Well, when you're looking at a weld, when things start moving and expanding and contracting, if there's a defect, that's where the failure path is going to be. So, it's really important to understand the strengths of your welds, and what's the best way to weld your welds. 

Can you put into words what this Artemis mission means to you? 

Last night I flew into Saratoga Springs, New York, and the gentleman at the desk who checked me in at the Saratoga said to me, 鈥淚 was alive when we landed on the moon.鈥� 

鈥淚 was like 3 or 4,鈥� he said, 鈥渁nd I am super excited to see us making this venture again.鈥�  

And then he said, 鈥淎nd I heard that you are our special guest and that you helped with sending us back to the moon, and I want to thank you.鈥� 

It was that moment right then that I was like, this is real. This is really real. We're about to take the next step to send humans back to the moon. And so, the idea that I thought about as a child鈥擨 never even processed that I wouldn't be the one going to the moon, but that my work would directly impact us going back to the moon. 

Later, when it really hit me鈥攖he importance of the work that I鈥檝e done and what that means for mankind鈥攖hat鈥檚 so heavy. It鈥檚 so beautiful.