NASA’s flagship moon program “reaffirms” the key role that Marshall Space Flight Center plays in human space exploration, the center’s director said Thursday at an event celebrating the 65th anniversary of the Huntsville institution.

Speaking at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Director Joseph Pelfrey paid homage to the thousands of workers whose careers have placed them at Marshall since its founding July 1, 1960 — as the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union was heating up.

The center’s story, “can be told through the many missions and projects we’ve accomplished,” Pelfrey said. “It can also be told through the thousands of careers that have started or ended here … this community has provided the absolute best our nation has to offer.”

Marshall is one of NASA’s largest field centers, with nearly 7,000 civil service and contractor employees. As the center’s 15th director, Pelfrey oversees an annual budget of about $5 billion dollars from federal appropriations that multiply throughout Alabama’s economy, according to a 2024 report.

Much of that spending is tied to NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to establish a permanent colony on the moon as a step toward crewed Mars missions. Marshall is the lead NASA center for key Artemis hardware and software systems, including the Space Launch System rockets and the Orion crew craft.

“The work we do at Marshall drives NASA’s bold mission and goals that we have as a nation,” Pelfrey said.

The center’s anniversary comes at a time when NASA faces historic uncertainty over funding for its exploration and science missions. President Donald Trump’s budget proposal called for phasing out the SLS and Orion after the Artemis III mission that will return humans to the moon’s surface in 2027. The House and Senate, however, restored billions in funding.

The space agency, though, is looking at over 2,100 pending departures of mid- and senior-level staff due to the administration’s downsizing efforts, according to a report this month by POLITICO. That includes 279 at MSFC.

Pelfrey’s speech stressed Marshall’s role in the Artemis program. The first mission, in 2022, built confidence in the SLS, he said, and “reaffirmed Marshall’s role as a leader in shaping the future of human spaceflight.”

The center is currently taking a “thoughtful look” at its role within NASA as well as the new global landscape of space exploration and commercialization.

“As we look toward that Artemis III mission, when the next humans land on the moon, they’ll do so in a Marshall-led, industry-developed Human Landing System,” Pelfrey said.

The center’s anniversary celebration continues with a free community event July 19 from noon to 5 p.m. at the Orion Amphitheater. The event will feature space exhibits, music, food vendors and hands-on activities for all ages.

Pelfrey will lead a program beginning at 12:30 that includes a presentation from some of the Expedition 72 crew members who recently returned from a mission aboard the International Space Station.