RIT alumni Katrina Willoughby and Paul Reichert trained Artemis II astronauts in photography at NASA's Johnson Space Center, leveraging RIT’s photographic sciences program to prepare crew for space-imaging tasks.

Over about two years, they built a curriculum with mock spacecraft and flight-like environments to simulate lunar EVA and space photography challenges.

The training covered both consumer cameras (including iPhones) and advanced equipment, teaching astronauts to produce high-quality images under space conditions.

The program treats imagery as essential mission data for operations, troubleshooting, and communicating events to teams on the ground.

Artemis II has renewed public fascination with space, highlighted by striking photos of Earth and the Moon during the historic lunar flyby.

The collaboration aims to inspire future innovators by making mission imagery accessible and compelling to a global audience to encourage interest in STEM.

Artemis II’s imagery contributes to scientific understanding of the Moon and solar system, with the crew returning to Earth in early April 2026.

The training emphasized advanced imaging techniques, equipment operation, and decision-making to ensure mission-critical imagery rather than basic photography.

Willoughby and Reichert stress astronauts must independently handle imaging tasks in space since ground support cannot be physically present.

The trainers connected to NASA through alumni networks and mentorship, with Andrew Davidhazy helping link them to opportunities; they have trained nearly every active astronaut in the past 25 years.

The curriculum pushed beyond basic photography toward scientifically valuable images that aid lunar and planetary research.

The Artemis II crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen—are trained to capture planned and contingency imagery during their approximately 10-day lunar flyby.