Kennedy Space Center Director Plans to Send a New Generation to the Moon — and Beyond

Petro is essentially the CEO of the world’s “premier multi-user spaceport,” which is so busy that 90-plus launches are set for this year. Last year brought 57 launches, including the historic Artemis 1, the first step in man’s return to the moon. (Humans last walked on the moon on Dec. 19, 1972, during Apollo 17.)

NASA

Artemis 1 launched on Nov. 16, sending the unmanned Orion spacecraft 1.4 million miles into space and back — “farther out in space and farther past the moon than we ever went before,” Petro said. Orion’s systems performed well, and the capsule made a safe reentry, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean 25 days after launch. 

Artemis 2, slated for November 2024, will carry a crew of four in a flyby around the moon. Three of the four astronauts have spent extended time on the International Space Station: commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover and mission specialist Christina Koch, who lived on the space station for nearly a year. The fourth, Jeremy Hansen, a Canadian astronaut, will make his first flight. Glover is African American, so this flight will be the first time a woman and a person of color will circle the moon.

Artemis 3 aims to land a man and woman on the south pole of the moon in 2025. Scientists believe there are signs of water at the south pole — making it more hospitable for humans.

“We’ll be staying there for longer periods and doing more research and mining to see what resources are on the surface of the moon that could help us sustain our presence there,” Petro said.

Consider the distance for a moment: The space station is in a low orbit, about 250 miles above Earth. The moon is almost 240,000 miles away, and Mars — the 2040 goal — is 140 million miles away.

As NASA reaches farther into space, tourism and business in low orbit will keep growing. In a NASA podcast commemorating her first year on the job, Petro called this “the most vibrant and robust time in history” at the Kennedy Space Center.

Her father died in 1986, at age 52. He had helped build the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle missions. He was deputy director of engineering for Lockheed Space Operations when he died. Janet was 26, an Army officer, flying helicopters in Germany. She flew home as soon as she found out her dad was sick. 

Petro’s career may lead us to the cosmos, but her family values are planted in the sandy but solid ground of Satellite Beach, where she once played softball and her parents square-danced and the town motto reflected their aspirations: “Where Progress Prevails.”

It’s still like a coastal version of Andy Griffith’s Mayberry, if Andy had worn a pocket protector instead of a sheriff’s badge. There’s even a spot on A1A known as “Your Hometown Barber Shop,” where Keith Rake displays memorabilia from every NASA and SpaceX crew member he’s trimmed. “He’s famous for his flat-tops,” his wife, Shirley, noted.

Petro lives a half-mile from her childhood home. Her son, Andrew Canavan, a chiropractor named for her dad, lives five houses away from her. Her daughter, Hannah, a chemical engineer, is close by, in Orlando. Her grandkids, Caleb and Ava, go to the same schools Janet attended. Caleb turns 12 on July 20 — the same day that Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in 1969.

Petro watched that historic moment on her TV screen when she was 9. Last November, she gathered her family to watch the launch of Artemis 1 from the roof of her office building at Kennedy Space Center. The view is spectacular from there, and each time she looks out, she thinks of the man who taught her to put her whole mind and spirit into everything she does.

“There are still people around who knew my dad. They tell me, ‘Your dad would be so proud of you.’ I would love to be able to ask him, ‘What do you think about our return to the moon?’

“He’d be incredibly impressed by how far we’ve come,” Petro surmised. “And he’d probably say, ‘Gee, what took you so long?’ ”

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