NASA appoints Worcester engineer to Artemis launch team
After a career spanning defence contracting and small satellite work, Waitt transitions to a core NASA role at Kennedy Space Center, joining the team for Artemis II and III.
Lindsey Waitt has been appointed as a NASA civil servant and test project engineer for the Artemis launch team at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The appointment marks a transition from contractor roles to a core agency position, following NASA’s recent insourcing initiative announced earlier this year. Waitt will serve as one of 14 test project engineers on the team, supporting the Artemis II and Artemis III missions.
Waitt, who is the only female in this specific group of engineers, will focus on technical tests and launch activities for the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. Test project engineers act as the main hub for coordinating resolutions across subsystems during dynamic operations. Waitt was previously certified to sit on the launch console during the Artemis II launch in April, observing the crew’s departure towards the Moon.
Her path to NASA began in Worcester, Massachusetts, where she was inspired in the late 1990s by a visit from astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria and Albert Sacco, Jr. to Worcester Polytechnic Institute. She later returned to the institute to complete a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in aerospace engineering. Her early career included systems engineering work for a defence contractor on radar flight test missions, though she noted the work did not align with her passion for space.
While raising three children and living abroad during her husband’s enlistment in the United States Army, Waitt completed a master’s degree in Space Operations from the University of Colorado. She moved to Cape Canaveral in 2022 to work as a systems engineer and program manager for a small satellite company. She began her contractor role at Kennedy in 2024, working on the Artemis II launch before securing her new civil servant position.
Waitt described the launch team as open and welcoming, noting that safety remains the priority alongside the drive to complete tasks efficiently. With Artemis III ahead, she will oversee the full buildup of launch operations. She stated that the universe is the limit, reflecting on a journey that saw her watch the first commercial crew mission to the International Space Station with her family in 2020.
