(WAND) - The phrase "he's no rocket scientist" is not true of Ron Spencer. The Decatur native works as a flight director for NASA, and he'll be part of Saturday's historic SpaceX flight, which will be the first space flight with U.S. astronauts, from American soil, since 2011.

"We're very proud of him," says Ron's father, Jim.

"It's pretty cool," adds Ron's mother, Mary, laughing.

Ron and Mary Spencer say their son showed high promise from a young age, excelling especially at science and math.

"It was easy for him," Mary says.

"It came natural to him," Jim says. "He was valedictorian at Stephen Decatur High School, and he got a full scholarship to go to Texas A&M to become an aerospace engineer... He was just always interested in science and math, and then what that would lead to in different careers, and he finally chose aerospace."

While Ron works for NASA, and is typically responsible for the day-to-day operations of the International Space Station, this weekend's mission is being conducted by private company SpaceX.

"This is not a NASA project per se, it's a SpaceX project," Jim says. "But he's the NASA coordinator, you might say, to be sure everything's done properly, to their specifications, and including all the safety requirements."

For Ron, this mission is the culmination of years of hard work.

"It's been a long time since we flew our last space shuttle, and a lot of work has gone into the moment that we have coming up hopefully this weekend," Ron tells WAND.

Ron also says this mission is just the first of many big things coming in the near future for the U.S. Space program.

"We're working actively on returning to the moon, and I think that's gonna be our big accomplishment the next 10 years... but this time, we intend to return to stay," he says. "Establishing bases on the moon, and eventually Mars, moving on from Earth being the only place we call home."

Saturday's launch is set for 2:22 pm Central time. If the launch doesn't work out on Saturday, it's expected to be attempted again on Sunday.

"Returning Americans to space on American vehicles," he says. "This one's a big step, and it's very exciting to be a part of it."