Christina Koch's Path to the Moon

Yesterday, history was made. For the first time since 1972, a rocket launched to the Moon—the first time for many of us to witness such an event. Christina Koch (pronounced cook), the only woman in the four-person crew, is also making history as the first woman to travel so far into space. 

Image Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Koch was born in 1979, seven years after Apollo 17, the last mission to the Moon. She doesn't remember a time when she didn't want to be an astronaut. "I loved things that made me feel small. I loved looking at the night sky. I love the ocean—I grew up in coastal North Carolina. And I just love contemplating the vastness of the universe and our place in it," Koch said in an interview with Brilliant Star magazine.

She enjoyed science and math and excelled at those subjects, helped along her path by attending North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. Koch studied electrical engineering and physics at North Carolina State University, earning both a Bachelor of Science and a Master's degree in electrical engineering. She set her sights on NASA early by graduating from the NASA Academy Program at Goddard Space Flight Center in 2001.

Before her ventures into space, Koch focused on extreme environments on Earth. She was a research associate in the United States Antarctic Program, which took her to both the North and South Poles. She did a winter-over season at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, where she learned how to adapt to the challenges of living far from family in a harsh climate with the same people—skills that readily translate to space travel.

Koch also used her engineering skills in the Space Department of the Applied Physics Lab at John Hopkins University, where she built instruments to measure radiation particles on NASA missions. She has also worked as a field engineer and a station chief for NOAA. 

Koch's depth of experience, along with her childhood dream, eventually led her to apply to NASA's astronaut program. She was named as one of eight members of NASA's 21st astronaut class in 2013 and completed her training in 2015. Four years later, she headed to the International Space Station, where she made history twice. First, she participated in the first all-female spacewalk on October 18, 2019. When her mission was extended until February 2020, she took the record from Peggy Whitson for the longest single continuous stay in space for a woman at 328 days.

Koch was named as part of Artemis II's crew in 2023 in a history-making move. Yesterday, April 1, 2026, she launched into space with fellow NASA astronauts Mission Commander Reid Wiseman and Pilot Victor Glover and Mission Specialist 2 and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen. While the other three astronauts come from military backgrounds, Koch joins the crew as an expert electrical engineer and Mission Specialist 1. Her role includes overseeing hatch systems and operations on Orion. Mission specialists are trained in all roles in the event of an emergency. 

Koch and the Artemis II crew will reach lunar orbit April 6, fly around the Moon, and return to Earth April 10. When she does, Koch will emerge from the Orion capsule as the first woman, but surely not the last, to travel beyond low Earth orbit as humanity bids to go to the Moon once again.

Image Credit: Mark Sowa - NASA - JSC