{"id":562589,"date":"2026-04-03T17:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T17:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/562589\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T17:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T17:50:11","slug":"alumnas-voice-heard-in-launch-communications","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/562589\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumna\u2019s Voice Heard in Launch Communications"},"content":{"rendered":"

With moments to the launch of the NASA Artemis II rocket, Alora Mazarakis, who graduated with a master\u2019s degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2020, can be heard loud and clear. \u00a0<\/p>\n

During Wednesday\u2019s Mission Control communications feed, as systems were checked for launch readiness, Mazarakis led the wireless communications control room team at Kennedy Space Center. On the feed, she can be heard<\/a> identifying a potential irregularity that prompted a minor delay, said Dr. Eduardo Rojas, Mazarakis\u2019 former professor and the chair of Embry-Riddle\u2019s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe observed that the signal-to-noise ratio on the S-band transponder briefly fell outside acceptable limits, indicating that the received signal from the vehicle was not within the expected range,\u201d Rojas said, adding that the team then reviewed the data to confirm the integrity of the system and determined that conditions were acceptable for launch.<\/p>\n

Mazarakis, who earned an M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering<\/a> and who is a flight communication and tracking engineer at NASA, spoke previously about her excitement for the Artemis II mission. She said in a video that \u201cit\u2019s hard to put into words how honored I am to be able to sit in the firing room on launch day.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also drew attention to the participation of women in Artemis. Astronaut Christina Koch, one of two mission specialists on Artemis II, is set to become the first woman to orbit the moon.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the 60s, we went to the moon with the Apollo program. Now we\u2019re doing it again with women,\u201d Mazarakis said. \u201cIt\u2019s really amazing to see how many other women have taken up the charge in spaceflight and are pushing the boundary of what we\u2019re able to achieve in science.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rojas said Mazarakis was an exceptional student \u201cwho consistently distinguished herself through her professionalism and the outstanding quality of her work.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said she also showed great potential as a researcher, \u201cdemonstrating an invaluable trait through her genuine openness to new ideas and her willingness to embrace challenging problems, particularly in the field of wireless optical communications hardware.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is truly an honor and a privilege to witness her expertise in action during the launch of Artemis II,” Rojas added. \u201cIt was such a great experience to hear her voice in the live feed. She is amazing!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hear Mazarakis on NASA\u2019s Artemis II official broadcast.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With moments to the launch of the NASA Artemis II rocket, Alora Mazarakis, who graduated with a master\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[79,193],"class_list":["post-562589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}