NASA's next Artemis missions being planned with help of N.Y. professor: "I was over the moon!"

Shortly after the Artemis II rocket launched on its trip around the moon, a college professor in New York learned he was picked by NASA to help with future missions. 

Stony Brook University professor Timothy Glotch is one of just 10 scientists from across the country selected to shape research plans for the next Artemis moon missions. 

The call of a lifetime

Glotch got the call of his life Wednesday, when NASA exploration leaders told the Long Island planetary geologist that he and nine others would be bringing their wealth of experience to the Artemis program. 

"I was over the moon!" he said. "My heart was racing, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for the entire day." 

Glotch will help astronauts on the 2028 Artemis mission locate minerals and water ice near the moon's south pole, and start to build a base on the moon in the coming years. 

"Artemis is being built from the ground up to be sustainable," he said. "I'm excited to bring Artemis to Stony Brook and teach classes." 

Planning next moon launch

Glotch will be front and center for the 2028 launch to the moon from either Cape Canaveral, Florida, or the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.   

While discussing his elation, Glotch donned gloves - a strict protocol - and showed lunar dust experiments from rock samples collected on the surface of the 4.5 billion-year-old moon by Apollo astronauts more than 50 years ago. 

"We can take this tiny little amount of sample and use it to inform our global perspective," he said. "By studying the moon, we learn more about the Earth." 

All of his research is being done on Earth, but would Glotch ever want to take a rocket on a trip to the moon?

"I don't even like tall roller coasters," he said. "I'm happy to do my science here on Earth."