Leah Cheshier Mustachino graduated from Young Harris College ten years ago

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF)– While we here in Augusta like to the the eyes of the world are on us during the first week in April… lots of eyes were also looking UP that same week. It was the historic Atremis II Mission, sending humans further into space than ever before with that amazing lunar flyby.

I had the opportunity to talk with a young woman who’s at the top of her game– let’s just say, on top of the world! She was part of the Artemis team, providing live commentary and interviews on NASA-TV during the 10-day mission.

Leah Cheshier Mustachio does live commentary for launches, spacewalks, and more– and many of you watched her recently during the exciting coverage of the Artemis ll mission and lunar flyby!

“I was 20 years old, I went to Wallops Island, Virginia. I saw a cargo launch, and I saw one of my now colleagues moderating a press conference, and that’s when I realized, I have a place here. NASA needs communications professionals. From that point on, I had blinders on to any other opportunity. I wanted to work at NASA so bad.”

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!!