Christina Koch will be the first woman to fly to and orbit the moon as one of four astronauts selected for NASA’s Artemis II mission.
Koch, who has a B.S. in physics and a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering from NC State University, spent 328 days in space in 2019-20, the longest continuous time spent in space by a woman. She also was part of the first all-woman spacewalk.
Artemis II will launch from Cape Canaveral in November 2024, with a 10-day mission of checking all systems of the Orion spacecraft and conducting a lunar fly-by to collect the necessary information for a moon landing in 2025. Koch will serve as mission specialist I.
Raised in Jacksonville, North Carolina, Koch has inspired and supported students who also dream of going to space. In 2019, she hosted a Q&A session from space with students from NC State, the North Carolina School of Science and Math, and other area schools. She returned to Raleigh earlier this year for an event at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences.
“I’m happy to go to the moon carrying the banner of NC State electrical engineering and physics,” she said in an interview with NC State News after NASA announced the crew. “Those two things — theoretical understanding and a hands-on approach to problem-solving — came together for me while I was there.
“I’m proud of that background. I love tinkering, working with tools and taking things apart. I’ve been told, though, not to mess with the spacecraft — unless asked.”
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