A McAllen Memorial High School graduate is helping lead NASA's first crewed mission to the Moon in more than 50 years.

Debbie Whitis Korth graduated from Memorial in 1987 and is one of the chief engineers behind Artemis II.

Korth now serves as Orion Deputy Program Manager at NASA and helped design the Artemis II spacecraft that is set to launch Wednesday evening, according to a McAllen ISD news release.

Korth realized she wanted to become an aerospace engineer while taking physics in high school. She went on to Texas A&M to major in aerospace engineering and then moved to Houston to work for NASA.

According to the Associated Press, Artemis will be NASA’s first trip to the moon since 1972.

As part of the mission, Artemis II will hurtle several thousand miles beyond the moon, hang a U-turn and then come straight back. 

In the McAllen ISD news release, the district said the historic launch “is extra special knowing that a Mustang is behind this historic expedition.”