Who is Christina Koch? What to know about NC astronaut headed to the moon

Christina Koch, a graduate of N.C. State University who grew up in Jacksonville, North Carolina, will be one of four astronauts to fly around the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.

Koch will join American astronauts Victor Glover and Reid Wiseman and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen on the Artemis II mission, NASA announced Monday from the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The mission is estimated to take off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in late 2024.

The mission will not involve astronauts actually landing on the moon, but it is considered a test flight for the later Artemis III mission that will see the first woman and person of color land on the moon’s surface. That mission is planned for 2025.

Want to know more about Koch, her ties to North Carolina and her history-making career? We’ve compiled information about her from previous coverage by The News & Observer, NASA and N.C. State.

Here’s what to know about astronaut Christina Koch.

Who is Christina Koch? Astronaut’s ties to NC

Koch is originally from Michigan, but grew up in Jacksonville, near the North Carolina coast.

She attended White Oak High School in Jacksonville before attending the North Carolina School of Science and Math, a residential, public high school in Durham that is part of the UNC System.

Koch attended college at N.C. State University, receiving bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and physics in 2001. She also holds a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the university.

▪ Koch is the first graduate of N.C. State to go to space.

▪ She spoke at the university’s virtual commencement ceremony in 2020. During that ceremony, she received an honorary Ph.D. from the university.

▪ Koch took a memento of N.C. State aboard the International Space Station in 2019, a printed circuit board with an etching of the wolf mascot wearing an astronaut helmet.

▪ Koch will be the only professional engineer aboard the Artemis II mission, NASA director of flight operations directorate Norm Knight said at the Artemis II crew announcement.

“As the only professional engineer in the crew, I know who Mission Control will be calling on when it’s time to fix something on-board,” he said.

Koch describes herself as an avid photographer, and she has shared photos of her time in space on social media — including her first time seeing her home of coastal North Carolina.

“It took my breath away as it came into focus. My first glimpse of coastal North Carolina from space. It’s a special thing to see from above the place where you grew up--the ocean that first inspired my fascination with things that make me feel small & planted the seed to explore,” Koch tweeted in 2019.

Christina Koch’s record-breaking, history-making career

Koch got her start with NASA at the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center, completing the NASA Academy program there in 2001. She then worked as an electrical engineer at Goddard early in her career.

Koch was selected in 2013 as one of eight members of NASA’s 21st astronaut class, then completed astronaut candidate training in 2015. She was assigned in 2018 to her first space flight, a long duration mission on the International Space Station that launched in March 2019.

The Artemis II mission won’t be Koch’s first time making history as an astronaut.

Koch holds the record for the longest single, continuous spaceflight by a woman, a distinction she earned spending 328 days aboard the International Space Station between 2019 and 2020. The previous record was 289 days.

Koch was also part of the first all-female spacewalk in 2019, installing a solar power system for the International Space Station with fellow NASA astronaut Jessica Meir.

Knight of NASA introduced Koch at the Artemis II crew announcement by noting that she “is no stranger to breaking records.”

“You have already made your mark in the remote corners of our planet. You have already been in the history books as a record-setting astronaut,” Knight told Koch on stage. “You’re a trailblazer and a role model for every generation to come. You’ve already been advocating and uplifting children in your community, and I know that you are just getting started.”