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Leah Cheshier Mustachino marked a decade since her graduation from Young Harris College.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — As Augusta captures the world’s attention every April with the Masters Tournament, another event had people gazing skyward. The historic Artemis II mission pushed the boundaries of human space travel, achieving a remarkable lunar flyby.
I had the privilege of speaking with a remarkable woman making waves in the space industry. She played a pivotal role in the Artemis team, delivering live commentary and conducting interviews on NASA-TV throughout the mission’s 10-day journey.
Leah Cheshier Mustachino is known for her live commentary on launches, spacewalks, and more. Many tuned in to watch her during the thrilling coverage of the Artemis II mission and its lunar flyby!
“When I was 20, I visited Wallops Island, Virginia, and witnessed a cargo launch. I saw a colleague moderating a press conference, and it clicked—I belonged there. NASA needed communications experts. From that moment, my focus was unwavering. I was determined to work at NASA,” she shared.
A communications degree from a Georgia college led the way to the Mission Control Console at NASA, giving Leah a front row seat to history.
“Yeah, I think that I’m still living in this bubble of having worked so closely on it that it’s now it’s starting to hit me how global it was. It was incredible. It’s still incredible. I’m working with the crew tomorrow and I can’t wait to see them. I saw them on Saturday and I’m excited to see just how their perspectives have, like, shifted since then.”
Leah says a big goal in covering an event as significant as the lunar flyby is ensuring that people stop and remember where they were, pass that story down to their grandkids, and inspire the next generation.
“I feel like we live in a world that it’s so easy to swipe up on your phone to the next story. We’re used to getting views of everything in the world– now. But getting to see something like this is a generational moment, and I think it’s inspirational and really uplifting. It’s something that we should all be really proud of, um, for our nation’s space program, for these astronauts that have joined and really done this huge mission.”
She’s inspiring herself, getting praise from viewers around the world, who see Leah as the face of a group of women, who played a big role in making the Artemis mission a success.
“A lot of people loved that! All the women involved.”
“Yeah, I, that really was serendipitous, too. We didn’t just think, let’s put all these women’s voices on camera, you know, it’s, these are the roles that we’ve been working in and training for, and that’s just how it happened. It’s very, very sweet, though, to hear that it’s inspiring. This feels like our generation’s Apollo 8 in a way. You know, looking back on Earth and everything that we think is so important and that we think matters so much, and then you see how far away and how small it really is. It definitely makes you think twice about what really matters, you know, how can we be a better neighbor? And how can I just cherish everything that I have even more?”
Leah is from Georgia. She graduated 10 years ago from Young Harris College in the beautiful North Georgia Mountains.
Fun fact: in 2018, she was doing a story about interns at NASA who went on to work there… one of them was the Chief Engineer of the Aviation Safety Office. She and Nick Mustachio were married 4 years later, and now have a precious little boy… who may well wind up exploring the moon one day!!