I Am Artemis: Erik Richards

For Erik Richards, supporting NASA's first crewed Artemis mission to the Moon and back is the culmination of a career spent helping spacecraft communicate with Earth.

Like many kids who grew up at the height of the Space Shuttle Program, Richards dreamed of spaceflight — a dream that eventually took him from the remote McMurdo Station in Antarctica to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Most recently, his work has taken him to the agency's White Sands Complex in New Mexico — and into a key role in America's return to the Moon. As mission manager for NASA's Near Space Network, Richards ensures the Artemis II crew and Orion spacecraft can communicate with Earth during liftoff and early orbit, through re-entry and splashdown.