Dr. Joseph Gonzalez spent almost ten years helping build the rocket used for Artemis II, and he did it after growing up on the streets of Little Village. The mission completed its 10-day crewed lunar flyby in April 2026. Gonzalez watched the Artemis II launch surrounded by his own students at the University of Illinois, where he now teaches.
Gonzalez, a Chicago native, spent close to a decade on the Artemis program, working on the rocket's core stage, according to ABC7 Chicago. He described the orange core stage and said he was part of the team and the systems engineering person for that part of the rocket. His work included fluid testing and other engineering responsibilities.
“I've done materials engineering. I've done fluids testing. I've done production support system engineering, and then also served on the chief engineering board for the program,” Gonzalez told the station. He also said he sat on boards alongside some of NASA's highest-ranking people, a striking arc for someone who grew up attending a Little Village school and began loving rockets and space back in fourth grade.
From Fluid Systems to the Classroom
Gonzalez is now a professor at the University of Illinois, according to WGN-TV. The station reports he now teaches students to find discipline even when motivation runs thin, drawing on his own path from a Chicago neighborhood to some of the highest levels of American spaceflight engineering. He has said he believes becoming an educator was the right decision.
The university has ambitious goals of its own. Per the same WGN-TV report, the University of Illinois plans to build the first propulsion test facility in the state of Illinois, a project still a few years away that will serve students focused on space exploration and rocket-engine development.
Artemis II completed a ten-day crewed lunar flyby, carrying astronauts around the moon before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off Southern California, as reported by ABC7 Chicago. The mission is now inspiring Gonzalez's students and other young scientists in the making, the station notes.
A Mother's Pride and a Role Model's Mission
Gonzalez's mother, Maria Gonzalez, said she was happy and in tears about her son's job, according to the station's report. Gonzalez himself has said his focus now is on sharing his story with young people in Little Village and beyond, hoping that his path from a neighborhood classroom to a rocket program can show others what is possible.
Gonzalez has said he wants to share his story with young people. He recalled the scrappier tools available to a kid dreaming about rockets decades ago: “There was no YouTube for us back then. So we had to explore how to build a rocket with water and pressure.”
Gonzalez, who is a father of two, is not finished chasing his own ambitions either. He plans to apply for a NASA astronaut position within the next couple of years, saying he believes he has one or two more opportunities to apply. Whether he is ultimately selected remains to be seen, but for now, the engineer-turned-professor is focused on building the next generation of rocket scientists in his home state.
