Nicholas Houghton, right, supports crew suit-up operations during Underway Recovery Training 12, an end-to-end practice recovery run conducted at sea to prepare for Artemis II.

Sumer Loggins

Johnson Space Center Office of Communications

May 11, 2026

Nicholas Houghton always dreamed of working at NASA and one day becoming an astronaut. Today, he helps design systems that keep crews safe during missions aboard NASA’s Orion spacecraft, including the successful Artemis II mission around the Moon.

Nicholas Houghton

Orion Crew Survival Systems Engineer

After joining NASA as a Pathways intern, Houghton later became a full-time engineer on the Orion Crew Survival Systems (OCSS) team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.…