The NASA astronaut who breaks spaceflight records and who will reach the Moon after 50 years

cristina koch was selected as a mission specialist artemis iii of NASA, in this way she will be the first woman to set foot on the Moon, which will mark the history of humanity.

Koch, a graduate of North Carolina State University and raised in Jacksonville, he will be one of four astronauts to fly around the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years.

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

NASA’s Artemis missions

More than 50 years after the Apollo XI moon landing, NASA has taken the first step towards returning to the moon. The Artemis I mission tried to set foot in the new space age, after several failed attempts.

Artemis I, in 2022, was the first stage of NASA’s new lunar exploration program, the ultimate goal of which is to establish a long-term presence on the surface of the Moon.

It was the most powerful rocket ever produced for propulsion the unmanned spacecraft Orion to the Moon at a speed of 39,400 kilometers per hour.

“This mission is of the utmost importance because it is the recovery of the path of man’s return to the Moon. In this first phase, all the capabilities of this new system will be tested, it will go to the Moon and back. In addition, it will bring information on the effects on astronauts on a long journey into space. And it also has small satellites that study the environment of our satellite. This will allow us to go to Mars, “explained César Bertucci, astronomer and member of last year the Institute of Astronomy and Space Physics.

The Artemis II mission is estimated to lift off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida in late 2024. This trip will not involve landing astronauts on the moonbut it is considered a test flight for the subsequent Artemis III mission, which will land the first black woman and person on the lunar surface.

The Artemis III mission is scheduled for 2025.

Christina Koch: the woman who will reach the moon and break records

Koch is originally from Michigan but grew up in Jacksonville, North Carolina. He was educated at White Oak High School before attending the School of Science and Mathematics. His education continued at North Carolina State University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and physics in 2001.

She was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 2013 and completed the astronaut candidate training in 2015. He also worked as a flight engineer on the International Space Station during three expeditions.

When he returned from space, Koch broke the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman, with a total of 328 days in space. Together with his partner Jessica Meir, also a NASA astronaut, participated in the first spacewalk by a woman.

The crews he participated in contributed to hundreds of science experiments, according to NASA. Some of the highlights of their missions include improvements to a scientific instrument called the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer.which is used for studying dark matter and growing protein crystals for pharmaceutical research.

Before becoming an astronaut, Koch performed remote field scientific engineering dutieswhich took it to American Samoa, Antarctica, Alaska and Greenland, and for the development of instruments for the space sciences.

In addition, she worked as an electrical engineer in the High Energy Astrophysics Laboratory at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and as a research associate in the US Antarctic program.