NASA is preparing for one of the most significant milestones of 21st-century space exploration, and at this historic moment, a Colombian engineer will hold a decisive responsibility. Liliana Villarreal, born in Cartagena, will serve as the landing and recovery director for the Artemis II mission, the first crewed flight around the Moon in more than 50 years. Her role will be to lead the coordination of the splashdown of the Orion capsule and the recovery of the astronauts in the Pacific Ocean, a critical phase that will mark the successful conclusion of the mission.
Artemis II is scheduled for February 2026 and represents humanity’s return to the lunar environment since the Apollo program ended in 1972. Although the mission does not include a lunar landing, it will validate the essential systems that will allow astronauts, in the next phase of the program, to walk on the Moon’s surface once again.
Who is Liliana Villarreal, the Colombian leading the Artemis II return landing?
Liliana Villarreal, known as “Lili” Villarreal, is a Colombian aerospace engineer with more than 15 years of experience at NASA. Her interest in space began in childhood after visiting the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex — an experience that shaped her professional vocation. Over time, her career took root in the United States, where she joined NASA and steadily assumed positions of increasing responsibility.
Currently, Villarreal serves as Artemis II landing and recovery director within NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) program. In this role, she is responsible for directing all operations related to the splashdown of the Orion spacecraft and the safe extraction of the four astronauts assigned to the lunar mission. The process must be completed in less than two hours after the capsule touches the ocean, a narrow time window that demands absolute precision.
Before this position, Villarreal worked as operations flow manager in EGS, overseeing the planning and integration of ground and flight hardware activities for Orion and the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. She also served as mission operations branch chief, leading critical testing and operational efforts for two years. Her career has made her a key figure in NASA’s crewed spaceflight programs.
Artemis II: the human return to the Moon after half a century
Artemis II is the first crewed mission of the Artemis program and will last approximately 10 days. The Orion spacecraft will be launched aboard the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, orbit the Moon, and return to Earth. The crew is made up of four highly experienced astronauts.
The mission will be commanded by Reid Wiseman, a U.S. astronaut who flew aboard the International Space Station in 2014 and has a strong background as a former U.S. Navy test pilot. Victor Glover will serve as pilot; in 2020, he made history as the first African American astronaut to take part in a long-duration mission aboard ISS during Crew-1. Completing the crew is Jeremy Hansen, a Canadian astronaut and colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force, who will become the first Canadian to participate in a lunar mission.
Christina Hammock Koch: the first woman to travel to the Moon
One of the most significant milestones of Artemis II will be achieved by Christina Hammock Koch, a mission specialist, who will become the first woman to travel to the Moon. Koch is one of NASA’s most experienced astronauts and holds the female record for continuous time in space, with 328 days aboard the International Space Station.
She also made history by taking part in the first all-female spacewalk, a landmark moment in space exploration. Her presence on Artemis II reflects the shift in vision of the Artemis program, which aims for a more diverse and inclusive approach compared to the Apollo era, when only men reached the Moon between 1969 and 1972.
NASA has confirmed that this approach will continue with Artemis III, the subsequent mission, which is expected to see a woman and a person of color set foot on the lunar surface for the first time, marking a historic milestone for humanity.