While at the Apollo / Saturn V Center at Kennedy Space Center, I spent more time looking at the people behind Apollo than the rocket itself. Before the Saturn V. Before the Moon landing. Before the history books. There was a room full of engineers. Rows of consoles. Switches. Headsets. Checklists. By modern standards, the technology looks surprisingly simple. Yet from these firing rooms at Kennedy Space Center, teams coordinated launches that would send astronauts nearly 240,000 miles from Earth. Standing there, I was reminded that Apollo wasn't just a triumph of engineering. It was a triumph of teamwork. The Saturn V may have carried astronauts to the Moon. But thousands of people helped get it off the ground. 🚀 #Apollo #SaturnV #KennedySpaceCenter #NASA #SpaceExploration #SpaceCoast @ExploreSpaceKSC @NASAAdmin @NASA

Three astronauts. Eight days. More than half a million miles. This is where they lived during the journey home from the Moon. Looking at the Apollo Command Module from the outside, it's easy to underestimate just how small it really was. Inside, three astronauts spent days shoulder to shoulder with little room to move. The Lunar Module landed on the Moon. But this spacecraft did something just as remarkable. It launched from Earth, carried the crew to lunar orbit, reunited with the Lunar Module after the moonwalk, and then brought every Apollo lunar crew safely home through the heat of atmospheric reentry. Standing beside it at Kennedy Space Center, one thing becomes obvious: The spacecraft that took humans to the Moon wasn't nearly as big as our imagination makes it. #Apollo14 #ApolloProgram #NASA #KennedySpaceCenter #SpaceHistory @NASAAdmin @NASA @NASASocial @NASAKennedy

Standing at The Gantry at @NASAKennedy Space Center felt like standing at the intersection of spaceflight history. In one direction sits Launch Complex 39A, where Apollo astronauts began their journeys to the Moon and where @SpaceX now launches crews to orbit. Across the water are the facilities where today’s satellites and rockets are assembled and prepared for flight for @Amazonleo and SpaceX. Behind me (not pictured) stood the Vehicle Assembly Building, the giant structure that helped send Apollo astronauts to the Moon and now supports the Artemis program. Few places on Earth allow you to see six decades of human spaceflight in a single turn of your head. 🚀

It was after midnight and I was reflecting on my day at @NASAKennedy Space Center. I had the opportunity to meet former NASA astronaut and retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Sam Gemar at Kennedy Space Center. Gemar flew three Space Shuttle missions aboard Atlantis, Discovery, and Columbia, logging more than 580 hours in space. One of my favorite parts of visiting Kennedy Space Center is the chance to connect the hardware, missions, and history with the people who actually lived it. Standing beneath the Saturn V and then meeting someone who helped carry the Shuttle program forward is a reminder that space exploration is ultimately a human story. He was very kind and generous with his time.

For decades, the Hubble Space Telescope has given us some of humanity's most iconic views of the universe. The James Webb Space Telescope is helping us peer deeper into space and time than ever before. Next up: NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. Scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center aboard a Falcon Heavy later this summer, Roman will help scientists investigate dark matter, dark energy, distant galaxies, and thousands of worlds beyond our solar system. What fascinates me most is Roman's ability to survey huge portions of the sky at once. Think of it as combining Hubble's sharp vision with an incredibly wide-angle lens. As someone who loves both the history and future of space exploration, this is one launch I'm especially excited to follow. I'll be sharing more about Roman and its mission in the weeks leading up to launch. #NASA #RomanSpaceTelescope #SpaceExploration #KennedySpaceCenter #FalconHeavy #Astronomy