\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe Artemis II mission has held the world’s rapt attention for days, from liftoff to each history-making moment in space. For one Sacramento space scientist, the mission is extra meaningful.Elizabeth Gabler Marquez is a neutron radiographer at UC Davis McClellan Nuclear Research Center. It’s where she and her colleagues started working on parts for the rocket back in 2021.\u201cWe got almost everything explosive that goes on the rocket,” Gabler Marquez said. \u201cThe separation stage rings. We get the gas propellant tanks. We get little gas generators for when they reenter, and the parachute cutters.\u201dShe and her team \u2013 meticulously inspecting the mechanisms for even the most miniscule of flaws.\u201cI have carried a lot of these rings across the facility,\u201d she said. \u201cI’ve held a lot of the parts of my hand. I’ve imaged . I’ve made sure they’re good.\u201dShe\u2019s also carried the weight of the work’s importance, top of mind.\u201cIt’s definitely terrifying when you’re looking, or inspecting parts,\u201d Gabler Marquez said. \u201cFour astronauts’ lives depend on this. It’s a lot of weight on my shoulders, but it’s also cool knowing I’m sending humans into space. I’m making history.\u201dHer place in history started early with a love of all things having to do with space.\u201cI’ve always been interested in the space shuttle program and hearing about the moon missions,\u201d she said. \u201cI’ve been always passionate about Artemis.\u201dFrom volunteering at the community observatory in Placerville to graduating from Sacramento State as an aerospace engineer, then on to jobs with Aerojet and landing where she is today, Gabler Marquez\u2019s path — much like the space program — was paved by each achievement.\u201cThis is the rocket we want to eventually take to Mars,” she said. “So it’s kind of a test run. If something goes wrong it’s a lot easier to try and get them back when they’re just at the moon than three months away.\u201dThe mission is also giving her hope by how it\u2019s united humanity.\u201cIt really just shows what humans can do when they all work together,\u201d she said. \u201cIt kind of is that one thing you can look up at the moon and smile and go, \u2018We did that. We put humans up there. Look at this beautiful moon.\u2019\u201dSee more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
The Artemis II mission has held the world’s rapt attention for days, from liftoff to each history-making moment in space. For one Sacramento space scientist, the mission is extra meaningful.<\/p>\n
Elizabeth Gabler Marquez is a neutron radiographer at UC Davis McClellan Nuclear Research Center. It’s where she and her colleagues started working on parts for the rocket back in 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got almost everything explosive that goes on the rocket,” Gabler Marquez said. \u201cThe separation stage rings. We get the gas propellant tanks. We get little gas generators for when they reenter, and the parachute cutters.\u201d<\/p>\n
She and her team \u2013 meticulously inspecting the mechanisms for even the most miniscule of flaws.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have carried a lot of these rings across the facility,\u201d she said. \u201cI’ve held a lot of the parts of my hand. I’ve imaged [the parts]. I’ve made sure they’re good.\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s also carried the weight of the work’s importance, top of mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s definitely terrifying when you’re looking, or inspecting parts,\u201d Gabler Marquez said. \u201cFour astronauts’ lives depend on this. It’s a lot of weight on my shoulders, but it’s also cool knowing I’m sending humans into space. I’m making history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her place in history started early with a love of all things having to do with space.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve always been interested in the space shuttle program and hearing about the moon missions,\u201d she said. \u201cI’ve been always passionate about Artemis.\u201d<\/p>\n
From volunteering at the community observatory in Placerville to graduating from Sacramento State as an aerospace engineer, then on to jobs with Aerojet and landing where she is today, Gabler Marquez\u2019s path<\/a> — much like the space program — was paved by each achievement<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the rocket we want to eventually take to Mars,” she said. “So it’s kind of a test run. If something goes wrong it’s a lot easier to try and get them back when they’re just at the moon than three months away.\u201d<\/p>\n The mission is also giving her hope by how it\u2019s united humanity.<\/p>\n \u201cIt really just shows what humans can do when they all work together,\u201d she said. \u201cIt kind of is that one thing you can look up at the moon and smile and go, \u2018We did that. We put humans up there. Look at this beautiful moon.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n See more coverage of top California stories here<\/a> | Download our app<\/a> | Subscribe to our morning newsletter<\/a> | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Artemis II mission has held the world’s rapt attention for days, from liftoff to each history-making moment…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[110601,105999,114745,24710,418,4679,5179,1741,1556,11482,3098,1459,51691,121,123,122,114746,5481,1744,114747,4610,8229,61236],"class_list":{"0":"post-260715","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-artemis","9":"tag-artemis-ii","10":"tag-elizabeth-gabler-marquez","11":"tag-hand","12":"tag-history","13":"tag-human","14":"tag-importance","15":"tag-lot","16":"tag-mission","17":"tag-moon","18":"tag-nasa","19":"tag-part","20":"tag-rocket","21":"tag-sacramento","22":"tag-sacramento-headlines","23":"tag-sacramento-news","24":"tag-sacramento-space-scientist","25":"tag-sacramento-state","26":"tag-space","27":"tag-space-shuttle-program","28":"tag-thing","29":"tag-uc-davis","30":"tag-weight"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}