Harvey Mudd Alumnus Stan Love ’87 Leads Mission Control Communications for NASA’s Artemis II

Harvey Mudd College physics alumnus and veteran astronaut Stan Love ’87 is the lead capsule communicator (CapCom) for the historic 10-day NASA Artemis II mission around the Moon.

Operating from the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Love will serve as the primary contact for the Artemis II astronauts. As lead CapCom, he is responsible for ensuring that critical data and commands from ground teams are delivered with the clarity and conciseness required for deep-space operations.

A veteran of the STS-122 Shuttle mission (2008) with over 306 hours logged in space, Love has served as a CapCom for more than a dozen space station expeditions. His career highlights include:

• Contributing to the Astronaut Office’s Rapid Prototyping Lab, which was instrumental in developing the displays and controls for the Orion spacecraft.
• Co-inventing the gravity tractor, a method to controllably modify the orbits of hazardous asteroids.
• Serving on Antarctic meteorite search teams and piloting prototype lunar rovers in simulated lunar surface traverses.

Love is one of two Harvey Mudd alumni to have reached the stars (after George “Pinky” Nelson ’72). Both were members of the College’s Bates Aeronautics Program (1962–1990), which inspired many students to pursue careers in aviation and aerospace.

How to Watch

Harvey Mudd College encourages its community of faculty, students and alumni—along with the general public—to witness this milestone in human history. NASA will provide a live stream of the Artemis II launch and mission milestones via NASA’s YouTube Channel.

View Love’s Artemis II: National Space Centre mission briefing.