Charlie Blackwell-Thompson

Charlie Blackwell-Thompson is an American engineer. Blackwell-Thompson is the launch director for NASA's Exploration Ground Systems Program, based at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC). She oversaw the countdown and liftoff of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft during its first flight test, called Artemis I, as well as its first crewed mission around the Moon, Artemis II.

Personal life and education Blackwell-Thompson is a native of Gaffney, South Carolina, where she graduated from Gaffney High School.

As a child, Blackwell-Thompson watched the Saturn V launches and was inspired by the idea of exploration the astronauts were doing. Blackwell-Thompson earned her bachelor's degree of computer engineering from Clemson University in 1988.

Blackwell-Thompson resides in Merritt Island, Florida, with her husband and three children.

Career

In 1988 she joined The Boeing Company as a payload flight software engineer at NASA KSC. She also worked as the lead in the Electrical Integration Office and the ground operations integration lead engineer for the Orbital Space Plane. She also served as the assistant launch director for STS-133 and through numerous tanking tests. She served as the chief of Launch and Landing through the retirement of the Space Shuttle Program (SSP). She is the first woman to serve as a NASA launch director. She also leads a Support Launch Team about 60 people in a second firing room. thumb

In 2019, Blackwell-Thompson led the launch team in performing training simulations inside Firing Room 1 of the Launch Control Center. The exercises certify the team is ready for launch and can work through any type of issue in real-time. On February 3, 2020, Blackwell-Thompson led the Artemis I launch team through a countdown simulation in Firing Room 1 of the Launch Control Center. In November 2020 she led a cryogenic propellant loading simulation.

In March 2021, a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, Blackwell-Thompson led the first exercise with the supporting NASA centers and the flight control team joining launch control to simulate launch together. She will lead another 12 additional simulations in 2021 prior to launch day.

On November 16, 2022, she directed the successful launch of Artemis I. On April 1, 2026, she directed the successful launch of Artemis II.

Patents Blackwell-Thompson holds multiple patents related to launch vehicle interface standardization concepts and command and control methods and systems.