Brown University professor who worked on Apollo missions praises Artemis II: "It's just inspirational"

Over the last week, the world has watched as Artemis II and its crew traveled to the moon. It's been more than 50 years since the United States has sent humans on a mission to the moon.

The Apollo missions famously launched the U.S. to the front of the space race in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Jim Head, a professor of planetary geosciences at Brown University was there for them all.  

"I answered an ad that had a picture of the moon, and it said, 'Our job is to think our way to the moon and back.' I wasn't trained in lunar science," Head said in an interview with WBZ-TV on Monday. "I had no idea how to do that job, but I couldn't resist." 

NASA was his first job out of graduate school, and Head found himself with a critical role in shaping the Apollo missions. He trained astronauts, determined lunar landing sites, and helped the U.S. make one giant leap after another for mankind. 

"These were certified scientific expeditions to the moon like Lewis and Clark level expeditions to be sure," Head said. 

The technology has changed over the years, but Head said the core mission of pursuing the unknown remains the same. He hopes the recent intrigue around the work the Artemis II crew is completing continues to inspire a new generation of scientists.

"You listen to the astronauts and their excitement and the exploration and it's just inspirational," Head said. "That was exactly how we all felt then. Today, people are incredibly excited. I am so excited to see them excited because I want them to share the excitement that I had."

Head has several former students at NASA, including one in Mission Control for Artemis II.