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Apollo to Artemis: A Decatur Legacy Continues

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When NASA’s Artemis II launched four astronauts on a journey around the moon, Decatur resident Addison McNutt had a front-row seat from the launch console.

McNutt is an electrical design and analysis engineer and avionics test lead at Boeing, working on NASA’s Artemis program. Her team monitors and tests the avionics of the Space Launch System core stage, which she simply describes as “the nervous system of the rocket.”

After years of work on Artemis II, seeing the mission launch was both a professional milestone and a reminder of how many people can rally around a common goal. But for McNutt, a career connected to the future of human spaceflight doesn’t require leaving home.

“The hub is here,” she said. “There’s so much opportunity here in Decatur, in Huntsville, in North Alabama.”

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Decatur’s Connection to Space

McNutt’s story is one piece of a much larger connection between Decatur and space exploration. United Launch Alliance’s manufacturing facility in Decatur has produced rocket hardware for missions reaching far beyond North Alabama. Most notably, the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stages for the first three Artemis missions were manufactured at ULA’s Decatur facility. The stage provides in-space propulsion for NASA’s Space Launch System, helping send Orion toward the Moon.

For McNutt, North Alabama’s connection to space is also personal. Her grandfather spent 30 years at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, working on programs including Saturn, Skylab, and the Space Shuttle.

“I’ve always had a love and a passion for space because of what he did,” McNutt said. Although he passed away when she was young, she said his influence stayed with her. Years later, her first engineering internship brought her to the Space Launch System program, an opportunity she sees as a chance to continue honoring his legacy.

That connection came full circle during Artemis II. McNutt brought her grandfather’s NASA badge with her to Kennedy Space Center, taking it with her to the launch pad before the mission and later wearing it tucked inside her shirt while she worked on the console. “It meant a lot to my entire family,” she said. “I was just really glad to be able to do that.”

Coming Home to Decatur

That family connection is part of a story that ultimately brought McNutt back home after she attended the University of Mississippi.

As a college student, she imagined her career might take her somewhere far from North Alabama. Instead, she found that some of the opportunities she was looking for were already here.

“I’ve absolutely fallen back in love with my hometown,” she said. “I decided to live in Decatur, and I am so glad that I did because I have some of the most amazing friends here.”

Choosing to Invest in Decatur

Coming home also meant finding her place in the community.

McNutt is involved with the Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce as a Commodore, which is a group that helps welcome and connect new businesses and community members. She is also involved with the Rotary Club of Decatur and has participated in local leadership programs.

For McNutt, getting involved is less about filling a calendar and more about having a stake in where Decatur goes next. “I do love to plug in and get involved in the community because I’m proud of what Decatur has, and I want to be involved in the growth and success of Decatur,” she said. That involvement has also helped her build the community she was looking for when she returned home. “If you really decide to invest in Decatur and plug into Decatur, you will get so much back,” McNutt said. “It’s been so rewarding for me.”

McNutt was also recognized for her outstanding community involvement as the 2026 Arthur Orr Young Professional of the Year through the Chamber of Commerce.

Finding Your Place in the Community

For someone looking to make those same connections, McNutt’s advice is simple: start by showing up.

The Decatur-Morgan County Chamber of Commerce offers networking, leadership development, community events, and programs for professionals at different stages of their careers. Young Professionals of Decatur provides another avenue for emerging leaders looking to build relationships and become more involved locally. Residents can also find opportunities through local nonprofits, civic organizations, and community events, while the City of Decatur offers opportunities to serve on volunteer boards and commissions.

“There are so many programs and outreach networks to get plugged into in Decatur, especially if you’re new to Decatur,” McNutt said. Those connections are part of what she has come to value most about her hometown. “There’s something for everybody to get plugged in and do,” she said. “And that’s what I love about Decatur. It’s a community of people that care about each other and love one another.”

Showing What’s Possible

McNutt also understands what it means for people, particularly young women, to see someone they can identify with pursuing a career in science and engineering.

She has heard from friends whose daughters watched the Artemis II launch and came away wanting to become engineers or astronauts themselves.

“When you have representation that shows, ‘Oh, I can do that. I can be that too,’ it really gives a confidence and a hope for the next generation,” she said.

Her own story is an example of how those influences can carry forward. A grandfather’s career at NASA helped inspire a love of space. An internship opened the door to engineering. A career brought her into the next generation of lunar exploration. And through it all, Decatur became the place she chose to come home to and invest in.

Today, McNutt is helping send people farther into space while putting down roots right here in her hometown.

For Decatur, that’s a story worth celebrating. That’s Positively Decatur.

Learn more about the cool people living in Decatur.

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