Courtesy Photo | Air Force Civil Engineers from the 45 CES helped enable NASA’s Artemis II mission by...... read more read more
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On April 1, the ground shook along the Florida Space Coast as NASA’s Space Launch System rocket ascended from Launch Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center, carrying four astronauts toward the moon for the first time in more than 50 years. Nearly 400,000 spectators gathered along the coast, while millions more watched online. Amid the crowds and the noise, a small team from the 45th Civil Engineer Squadron stood at their posts, helping to ensure every system on the ground was ready for liftoff.
This mission was the product of years of deliberate preparation, hundreds of routine launches, and a partnership between Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Kennedy Space Center, with the support of the 45th CES.
“NASA’s Artemis II test flight is one more example of how integrated the Air Force Civil Engineer organization is with the Space Force,” said Master Sgt. Nicholas Graham, 45th Explosive Ordnance Disposal superintendent. “CE performs critical tasks for launches that the Space Force does not have the specialty or staffing to support.”
The 45th CES EOD flight has been central to that mission set for every major launch from the Cape.
For Artemis II, the EOD launch team was led by Staff Sgt. Tyler S. McMillan, with Senior Airman Maximilian Graf Zevallos Kamensky serving alongside him in the NASA Launch Emergency Operations Center. Capt. Benjamin Hoffman and Master Sgt. Graham were present as supervisory observers, while Staff Sgt. Ian Sotham managed logistics support.
A separate team composed of Master Sgt. Jordan Haynes and Senior Airman Matthew Schoessel stood ready to respond rapidly to suspect packages or other threats within public viewing areas. Master Sgt. Robert Ridgway, the installation emergency manager, represented CE emergency management within the NASA Launch Emergency Operations Center.
Together, the team provided a layered emergency response and security posture that helped ensure the safe and successful execution of the Artemis II test flight.
Preparation for the April launch began years before the countdown clock started. “In short, years,” McMillan said when asked how far in advance the team began preparing.
The EOD team conducted a formal walk-down of the Artemis II rocket while it was still inside the Vehicle Assembly Building, working alongside NASA engineers who guided them from the rocket's base to its tip and back again.
“They helped us locate various explosive hazards and showed us how they were configured on the vehicle,” McMillan said. “We also discussed explosive weights and different approaches for the unique hazards in the system.”
The team also viewed the Orion spacecraft to observe the capsule’s components in various stages of assembly, gaining an understanding of how certain systems were layered beneath the capsule's structural panels.
McMillan's team averages roughly two and a half launches per week off the Cape, and each mission contributes to the next. They have responded to launch anomalies that scattered debris across the installation, certified recovered explosive components safe for storage, and disposed of hazardous materials as they were removed. When Vulcan’s solid rocket boosters experienced irregularities during recent missions, the 45th EOD team helped clear the way for operations to continue. When a Falcon 9 booster toppled over on a recovery barge, they mitigated the explosive hazards.
Each mission builds the institutional knowledge that makes high-stakes launches like Artemis II manageable.
“Our team understands the intricacies of Launch Emergency Operations Center processes on both sides of the launch enterprise,” McMillan said, referring to the separate LEOC structures at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Kennedy Space Center.
That cross-boundary relationship is central to what makes CE support possible. Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and Kennedy Space Center share a boundary, but launches from each installation carry different command-and-control requirements. For Artemis II, which launched from KSC's Launch Complex 39B, members of the 45th EOD flight were embedded directly within the NASA LEOC structure.
“The launch team's integration with Security Forces happens in the LEOC,” McMillan said. “Because this launch occurred at Kennedy Space Center, NASA's security team was in charge, and we maintained a response team immediately available to support them if requested.”
In the year leading up to Artemis II, CE Airmen and NASA emergency management personnel conducted a joint active shooter and improvised explosive device exercise at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Center. Graham described the training as establishing a foundation of communication the teams now rely on during real-world launch operations.
On launch day, with the national visibility of a crewed lunar mission at stake, the rapid response team’s mission remained distinct from the launch team’s responsibilities. While McMillan’s EOD team focused entirely on the vehicle and astronauts, Haynes and Schoessel remained postured to respond to potential threats within the crowd.
“The launch presented a real target for bad actors to make a showing,” Graham said.
Unattended bags and suspect packages are common occurrence at high-attendance events, and an EOD response can quickly create cascading operational disruptions if not resolved rapidly. Maintaining a dedicated response team separate from the launch-focused crew ensured neither mission compromised the other.
After the rocket cleared the pad and the crowds began to disperse, Graham reflected on what the team had witnessed and what it meant for future operations.
“We could have prepared even more,” he said. “It's a bad habit to learn everything from success.”
Andy Duce, 45th CES program manager, described the growing challenge of supporting an Eastern Range largely constructed in the 1950s for rockets far smaller than those launching today.
“A lot of people, when they think about launching rockets, they just think that the pointy end points up, the fiery end points down and that's all it takes,” Duce said. “The logistics piece is actually what controls how fast you can launch a rocket.”
Moving a single large launch vehicle down a two-lane road requires completely clearing traffic, a manageable constraint at one launch per week but a major operational challenge as the range is approached 200 launches annually.
More than a thousand personnel within Cape Canaveral’s industrial area must evacuate whenever launch hazard zones overlap that footprint.
“One of the biggest efforts is relocating many of those functions farther south into a larger warehouse district campus,” Duce said.
This effort falls under the Spaceport of the Future initiative, launched in 2017 by the Space Force to accommodate the rapidly increasing pace of commercial and government launches. The original target was 75 launches annually. By 2025 alone, however, Space Launch Delta 45 enabled more than 100 launches.
“The success from our launch service providers made us blow past that way faster than we ever expected,” Duce said.
The growing demand for launches reveals something deeper about CE’s role in the space domain. These Airmen are embedded within the framework of American space operations, providing critical support to Space Force missions.
For McMillan, the significance of Artemis II did not require a formal moment of recognition.
“We stood there proud, knowing that if the worst happened, we would be the team responsible for helping recover our explorers,” he said.
The Artemis II test flight serves as a reminder that generating space power begins on the ground. Just as runways and taxiways must be mission-capable before a single aircraft can sortie, the ranges, emergency systems, and explosive hazard expertise maintained by Air Force CE Airmen at Cape Canaveral must be ready before a rocket can fly.
America is returning to the moon. Air Force Civil Engineers are helping to build the runway.
| Date Taken: | 06.03.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 06.03.2026 16:24 |
| Story ID: | 566792 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 22 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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