Christina Koch, Astronaut, Member of Artemis II Crew (Christina Koch Thumbnail (751899268179).jpg

Christina Koch, Astronaut
Member of Artemis II Crew
STEM Woman Role Model

From the time she was a child, Christina Hammock Koch (pronounced Cook) wanted to be an astronaut. She says frontiers and unexplored places attracted her attention, and as a teen attended space camps in Huntsville, Alabama. She has dedicated her life to space exploration.

Before being accepted as an astronaut, she worked at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center as an electrical engineer in the Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics. She was station chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s American Samoa Observatory. She met her husband in American Samoa.

She is a STEM woman role model, having earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering, plus a bachelor’s degree in physics. Now 47 years old, she has spent her entire life investigating space travel. I can’t wait to learn what her next mission will be.

 Bio

• Born – Christina Hammock, January 29, 1979 in Grand Rapids, Michigan
• 1982 – Family moved to Jacksonville, N.C.
• 1997 – Graduated from North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Durham
• 2001 – Bachelor of Science degree, electrical engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh
• 2001 – NASA Academy program at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
• 2002 – Bachelor of Science degree, physics, NCSU
• 2002 – Master of Science degree, electrical engineering, NCSU
• 2013 – Became an astronaut; selected as Astronaut Group 21

 Career

• 2019 – Launched to the International Space Station aboard Soyuz MS-12
• 2019 – October 18—first all-female spacewalk with Jessica Meir, upgraded ISS power systems
•             and  physics observatories
• 2020 – February 6—returned to earth after 328 days in space, the longest single continuous spaceflight by a woman
• 2023 – April 3—announced as mission specialist in Artemis II crew
• 2026 – April 1-10—first woman to leave earth’s orbit and travel around the moon

 Awards

• 2000-2001 – Astronaut Scholar
• 2005 – U.S. Congress Antarctic Service Medal with Winter-Over distinction
• 2005 – NASA Group Achievement Award for the Suzaku Mission X-ray Spectrometer Instrument
• 2012 – NASA and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
• 2012 – NASA Group Achievement award
• 2020 – Time’s 100 Most Influential People
• 2020 – Honorary Doctor of Sciences degree, NCSU

Personal

• 2013 – Met her husband in American Samoa
• 2014 – November 1, married Robert “Bob” Koch, geospatial engineer; the couple lives in Galveston, Texas
• 2020 – Golden retriever mixed breed rescue dog, Sadie Lou
• Hobbies – surfing, rock and ice climbing, yoga, triathlons, backpacking, community service, programming, photography, travel

Further information

www.youtube.com/shorts/fTvZ-8Vgc-Q
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lo7mR44sqCQ
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rerelease-becoming-the-first-woman-to-travel-around/id1183017174?i=1000761141842

My ebooks available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com:
Honoring 23 Black Women, Recognizing 23 Notable Mothers, Saluting 23 Faithful Suffragists