Our honorary member of the month for May is astronaut Christina Koch!
Christina Koch was officially selected as a NASA astronaut in 2013. She is most recently recognized as the mission specialist for the Artemis II mission earlier this year. Her first assignment was a long duration ISS mission, during which she set the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, racking up 328 days in space during that mission. Koch has been on 6 spacewalks, three of which being the first all-female spacewalks.
Her career began at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center as an electrical engineer, then became a research associate in the United States Antarctic Program which included a yearlong stay with a winter-over at the Admunsen-Scott South Pole Station and season at Palmer Station. She continued to complete significant work at various remote scientific bases.
After her first spaceflight, Koch served as Branch Chief of the Assigned Crew Branch in the Astronaut Office. She then went on a rotation as Assistant for Technical Integration for the Center Director at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
Koch holds a B.S. in electrical engineering and physics as well as a M.S. in electrical engineering. She also studied abroad at the University of Ghana. She is the recipient of an honorary PhD from North Carolina State University.
If you would like to learn more about Christina, please see her biography on NASA’s official website.
