An Artemis II astronaut returns to Naval Postgraduate School to share his story.

Royvi Hernandez here, reminiscing on my community college days as a STEM student after attending a lecture event at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey yesterday, June 16, where astronaut and Artemis II Pilot Captain Victor Glover once attended and graduated in 2009.

With a full audience at King Hall, Glover spoke about his career and his journey to the vicinity of the moon in April.

The Artemis II crew is the first to fly around the moon in more than 50 years. While listening to Glover speak about his time in the Math Engineering Science Achievement or MESA programs in his schools, his personal and academic challenges and being a life-long learner, it made me realize how much I miss my friends from college who pursued an aerospace engineering degree and also being with my dad daily who I’m excited to see on Father’s Day this weekend. 

My father loves sci-fi films, including the Star Wars and Star Trek series. Every time I see an astronaut, I think of the famous Star Trek opening monologue: “Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.” 

Glover was the first person of color to travel out of lunar orbit and around the moon. 

“My younger self was not capable of envisioning all of this, so what I would tell my younger self is it's going to be OK because you're going to put in the work and let him figure it out,” Glover told me with his blue astronaut suit, big smile and humorous personality. “He figured it out and I would give him support more than I would give him advice to not change the outcome.”

During the lecture, Glover also spoke about the important role of his wife and his father in supporting his career goals, as before becoming an astronaut he served in the U.S. Navy as a naval aviator and a test pilot.

“My dad told me in 1997 with an engineering degree and wings, you might become an astronaut,” Glover says. 

He sure did. Although he made it clear during the event he didn't want to be asked questions related to giving advice, he still made sure to enforce three things to the audience—to stay resilient during challenging times, to keep learning and to be a good teammate.

Glover told me he will support the Artemis III crew and be open to answering any questions they may have before heading to the moon next year. 

The Artemis III crew was announced last week and as a Salvadoran, I am proud that Salvadoran astronaut Frank Rubio will be the first Latino astronaut as part of the Artemis program.

Unlike Artemis II, Artemis III has evolved into a highly complex orbital test mission. During the flight, astronauts will operate aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft, the same capsule used during the Artemis II mission and conduct docking demonstrations with lunar landing systems being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin, according to the NASA website. 

The Artemis IV mission, which is already set for 2028, will put American astronauts on the moon for the first time since 1972 and may I say, I am ready to watch that on TV.