50 OregonStater.org meant they had to revisit those plans on the fly after launch and send new sets of instructions. Schmidt recalls the feeling of triumph when that revised photography plan was successfully transmitted to the spacecraft. Her team had developed the software that provided visualizations and instructions for image capture with the mission’s two cameras, as well as a system that makes it possible to annotate directly on the photos in real time. This aspect of data collection was critical, as it allowed the astronauts to circle items of interest on the photos and jot down observations that they might have otherwise forgotten. For Schmidt, one of the biggest moments of the mission came in the middle of the night as astronauts transmitted the first few photos from the lunar flyby. “I got full body chills when I saw the photos — they were better than anything I could have ever imagined,” she says. “The first one was one of the eclipse shots, this dark orb of the moon with light behind it, and I thought, ‘This is the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life. This is what it was all for.’” Post-splashdown, her team is now responsible for processing all of the photos and archiving them for the science team so they can be used for decades to come. Many photos and their accompanying commentary by the astronauts — annotations, simultaneous audio recordings — describe places never before seen by human eyes. Schmidt notes that scientists still conduct research using images taken more than 50 years ago during the Apollo missions. The Artemis images will contribute to those projects, as well as to new initiatives not yet imagined. Her work is helping bring the next era of space exploration into focus — for the astronauts who will walk on the moon, for those who’ve set their sights on Mars and for everyone watching back on Earth. continued The greatest measure of any university is the quality of the people it sends out into the world. This year’s Alumni Fellows and Changemakers show the amazing ways Beavers use their Oregon State education to make things better, from shaping green building standards to designing tools, expanding rural health care and strengthening local food systems. Meet this year’s honorees. The Best of Us Presenting the 2026 Alumni Fellows and Changemakers. BY > OREGON STATER STAFF P R O F I L E
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