Colombian-born engineer highlights role in NASA’s Artemis programme
NASA profile details the career of resident management officer Elkin Norena, who has contributed to 17 Space Shuttle missions and now supports the Space Launch System team preparing for lunar return.
NASA has published a profile of Elkin Norena, the resident management officer for the Space Launch System (SLS) Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A native of Colombia, Norena serves as the primary liaison for the SLS Program, which is managed at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. In this capacity, he provides onsite support for the Exploration Ground Systems team, which is responsible for preparing, stacking, testing, and launching the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft.
Norena’s career in space exploration began with the Space Shuttle Program, where he worked as an electrical engineer and later as a flight termination engineer for 17 missions. During this period, he contributed to the construction of the International Space Station and participated in the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. He joined NASA contractor United Space Alliance following his studies and became a civil servant at NASA Kennedy in 2008.
He is now a key member of the SLS team involved in the Artemis II mission, which aims to fly astronauts around the Moon and return them home, as well as the upcoming Artemis III mission. Norena stated that he was part of the teams that successfully launched Artemis I and Artemis II, marking a transition from the shuttle era to the agency’s new lunar exploration goals.
The path to his current role began in New Jersey, where a childhood experience watching a space shuttle launch in class inspired him to pursue a career in space exploration. He attended the University of Central Florida in Orlando, majoring in computer engineering, located in close proximity to the Space Coast. Norena noted that the Artemis programme represents a historic opportunity to return to the Moon and establish a permanent presence, fulfilling a dream he held since watching the shuttle missions as a child.
Outside of his professional duties, Norena is an avid astrophotographer who travels to various locations across the United States, including Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, and Dry Tortugas National Park, to capture images of the Milky Way. He balances his passion for space with family life, spending time with his teenage daughters and participating in their activities.
