Joseph Hoayun, a UCF graduate with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s in engineering management, works as a spacecraft propulsion test engineer for Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for NASA’s Orion spacecraft used in the Artemis II mission. After Orion’s capsule splashed into the Pacific Ocean, Hoayun monitored live telemetry from the Test Launch Control Center and verified the capsule’s uprighting system, which employed five orange balloons to lift the vehicle upright.
Hoayun supports the 24‑hour operation at Kennedy Space Center, running proof and leak tests that pressurize flight propellant tanks to hundreds of pounds per square inch and overseeing safety protocols that include a 70‑foot evacuation radius during high‑threshold testing. His division, which is expanding from 70 to more than 100 personnel, applies Six Sigma methods to improve testing workflows and has saved the contractor hundreds of thousands of dollars. The team conducts hundreds of distinct tests for each spacecraft cycle to ensure engines, electrical components, mechanical units and control systems function correctly before launch.
His interest in space engineering began in childhood after watching the Apollo 13 mission, and his father, a science teacher at Corner Lake Middle School in Orlando, encouraged his curiosity with textbooks and kitchen experiments. For his senior design project at UCF, Hoayun helped build and fly a distributed electric propulsion aircraft, a collaborative challenge that mirrors his current work on multiple Artemis missions being tested in parallel.
Press release issued by UCF Today:
https://www.ucf.edu/news/shooting-for-the-moon-a-ucf-graduates-role-in-artemis-mission-safety/
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