MOON SHOT

ALUMNUS JUSTIN DARNALL WANTS TO GET HUMANS BACK TO THE MOON – AND BEYOND.

By Lynne Winter

More than 50 years ago, astronauts from Apollo 17 became the last humans to set foot on the moon. Justin Darnall is working to make a return trip possible by the end of this decade.

As Blue Origin’s senior manager of software development, testing and deployment — lunar transportation, Darnall is responsible for developing and managing the human lunar landing system for NASA’s Artemis V mission to the moon.

Despite the magnitude of the task, the 2019 graduate of Metropolitan State University of Denver is prepared for the challenge. “Sometimes, it feels like a lot,” he said. “But I’m excited to take it on.”

Darnall never expected to be on the brink of making space history. After eight years in the Marine Corps, followed by a string of ill-fitting jobs, he used the GI Bill to enroll at MSU Denver in 2016. He majored in Aerospace Systems Engineering through the University’s Individualized Degree Program. A self-proclaimed “awful student” in high school, he excelled in college by treating coursework like a job.

Darnall quickly developed a vision for his future. “I was interested in the mechanical side of things — I wanted to build rockets,” he said. But getting a late start in looking for internships for his final semester sent him down a different path.

With most intern positions already taken, Darnall turned to Magens Orman for assistance. The then-MSU Denver Alumni Association board member helped Darnall secure a spot on the Sierra Nevada Corp. Flight Software/Guidance Navigation and Control team. The position ignited his love of software.

His skill with software will be vital in getting people back to the moon. That task includes building from scratch software that is certified to safely transport humans on a spacecraft. “If humans are going to get on something that’s going into the most intense environment known to (humankind), the software better not have some glitch,” Darnall said.

But getting humans back on the lunar surface is only the beginning. The bigger goal, Darnall said, is for the moon to become a steppingstone to the rest of the galaxy.