NASA astronaut Christina Hammock Koch to become first woman to orbit the moon
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April 3 (UPI) -- NASA astronaut Christina Hammock Koch -- a flight engineer on the International Space Station and record-holder for the longest single spaceflight by a female -- will become the first woman to orbit the moon next year when the space agency launches its Artemis II mission.
Koch's name was revealed Monday as a member of the four-person crew of astronauts from the United States and Canada who will journey around the moon. Koch, who was assigned mission specialist, will be joined by Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronauts G. Reid Wiseman and Victor J. Glover Jr., who will become the first person of color to orbit the moon, NASA and the Johnson Space Center announced Monday in Houston, Texas.
"When I first found out I was assigned to Artemis II, my thoughts were disbelief, an immense sense of honor and responsibility, and readiness; ready to try to make everyone proud and to really fulfill what this mission truly means to all humanity," Koch said in a NASA video Monday.
Koch, who became an astronaut in 2013, grew up in Jacksonville, Fla., and attended the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, before going to North Carolina State University. Koch earned bachelor of science degrees in electrical engineering and physics, as well as a master of science degree in electrical engineering. In 2019, she spoke to NC State graduates from the International Space Station.
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"Don't think there's just one way to accomplish your dreams or a set of boxes you have to check through life," Koch told graduates. "Live your life according to your interests and passions."
Koch participated in the NASA Academy program at Goddard Space Flight Center in 2001, after working as an electrical engineer at GSFC, and was selected in 2013 as one of the eight members of the 21st NASA astronaut class. She completed astronaut candidate training in 2015.
"To me, there's never really been a time when I didn't want to be an astronaut. Going back as far as I can remember, it's what I always dreamed of," Koch said Monday.
Koch's name was revealed Monday as a member of the four-person crew of astronauts from the United States and Canada who will journey around the moon. Koch, who was assigned mission specialist, will be joined by Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronauts G. Reid Wiseman and Victor J. Glover Jr., who will become the first person of color to orbit the moon, NASA and the Johnson Space Center announced Monday in Houston, Texas.
"When I first found out I was assigned to Artemis II, my thoughts were disbelief, an immense sense of honor and responsibility, and readiness; ready to try to make everyone proud and to really fulfill what this mission truly means to all humanity," Koch said in a NASA video Monday.
Koch, who became an astronaut in 2013, grew up in Jacksonville, Fla., and attended the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, before going to North Carolina State University. Koch earned bachelor of science degrees in electrical engineering and physics, as well as a master of science degree in electrical engineering. In 2019, she spoke to NC State graduates from the International Space Station.
RELATED U.S. Navy pilot to become first person of color to go to the moon
"Don't think there's just one way to accomplish your dreams or a set of boxes you have to check through life," Koch told graduates. "Live your life according to your interests and passions."
Koch participated in the NASA Academy program at Goddard Space Flight Center in 2001, after working as an electrical engineer at GSFC, and was selected in 2013 as one of the eight members of the 21st NASA astronaut class. She completed astronaut candidate training in 2015.
"To me, there's never really been a time when I didn't want to be an astronaut. Going back as far as I can remember, it's what I always dreamed of," Koch said Monday.
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Koch served as ISS flight engineer during Expedition 59, 60 and 61. In 2018, she was assigned to her first space flight, which was a long duration mission on the International Space Station. Koch launched on March 14, 2019, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a Soyuz spacecraft and returned to Earth on Feb. 6, 2020, setting a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman and the second longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut after retired astronaut Scott Kelly. Koch spent a total of 328 days in space, prompting her to post a video of her rescue dog's enthusiastic greeting when she finally returned home
During her missions to the ISS, Koch also took part in a total of six space walks, including the first all-female spacewalk, which NASA initially canceled because it did not have enough woman-sized space suits. Koch ended up wearing one of the medium-sized spacesuits and doing the walk with male astronaut Nick
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Last week, Koch tweeted about how common it is to now see multiple women at the International Space Station.
"Why's this matter? To me, it's making more successful missions and a world where people with a dream work equally hard to reach that dream. Here's to my own astro sisters!" Koch wrote Friday with the hashtag "womenshistorymonth."
While at the ISS, Koch and her crew members contributed to hundreds of experiments to learn more about Earth and physical science, biology, human research and technology.
In 2019, Koch posted a photo of Ghana's national flag in space as she reminisced about her time spent in the country two decades ago.
"20 years ago, I was studying abroad at the University of Ghana. Like spaceflight, it was a positive, life-changing, perspective-deepening experience," Koch wrote.
A year later, Koch helped Nickelodeon debut its first footage of the children's cable network's iconic green slime in space. Koch and another crew member were able to spin the slime in mid-air and adhere it to a paddle board. While there was no gravity, they were not able to pour it over each others' heads.
"Playing with slime in space is way more fun that I thought it would be -- and way more unpredictable," said Koch. "Just like all of the other science we do, you cannot replicate these experiments on the Earth, you need zero gravity to see some of this behavior."
Koch faced angry flat Earth theorists when she shared her last photo of Earth in a 2020 tweet as she returned from the International Space Station, to which some replied "fake pic" and "nice fake curvature."
And Koch continued to share her photos from her missions, including a starry night Van Gogh-like photo from a composite image she captured at the International Space Station.
"City lights, stars, lightning storms, even satellite flares -- a composite of individual photos stacked on top of each other to show all the amazing things we see at night out our window."
While Koch will orbit the moon as a member of the Artemis II crew in 2024, another unnamed crew is expected to land on the moon in 2025.
On Monday, Koch said she is looking forward to working with the other Artemis II crew members.
"They all have a military background and I come from a more raw technical engineering background and I think that that complements one another really well," Koch said. "I think we'll work together great and I hope to be someone on the crew that really is that engineering expert and I hope that that can be the way I contribute the most."
Looking further into the future, Koch said she'd love to be chosen for a mission to Mars, even though she'd miss her husband and her family.
"For Mars, I'd ask my family and friends to make small surprises for me to open on designated dates," she said in an interview in 2016. "A handwritten card when you've been away 15 months can be the best thing imaginable."
NASA names Christina Hammock Koch 1st woman to launch to moon
Expedition 59 crew members, including NASA's Christina Hammock Koch (C), Nick Hague of NASA (top) and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos wave farewell before boarding the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 14, 2019. The crew spent 6 1/2 months living and working aboard the International Space Station.
Last week, Koch tweeted about how common it is to now see multiple women at the International Space Station.
"Why's this matter? To me, it's making more successful missions and a world where people with a dream work equally hard to reach that dream. Here's to my own astro sisters!" Koch wrote Friday with the hashtag "womenshistorymonth."
While at the ISS, Koch and her crew members contributed to hundreds of experiments to learn more about Earth and physical science, biology, human research and technology.
In 2019, Koch posted a photo of Ghana's national flag in space as she reminisced about her time spent in the country two decades ago.
"20 years ago, I was studying abroad at the University of Ghana. Like spaceflight, it was a positive, life-changing, perspective-deepening experience," Koch wrote.
A year later, Koch helped Nickelodeon debut its first footage of the children's cable network's iconic green slime in space. Koch and another crew member were able to spin the slime in mid-air and adhere it to a paddle board. While there was no gravity, they were not able to pour it over each others' heads.
"Playing with slime in space is way more fun that I thought it would be -- and way more unpredictable," said Koch. "Just like all of the other science we do, you cannot replicate these experiments on the Earth, you need zero gravity to see some of this behavior."
Koch faced angry flat Earth theorists when she shared her last photo of Earth in a 2020 tweet as she returned from the International Space Station, to which some replied "fake pic" and "nice fake curvature."
And Koch continued to share her photos from her missions, including a starry night Van Gogh-like photo from a composite image she captured at the International Space Station.
"City lights, stars, lightning storms, even satellite flares -- a composite of individual photos stacked on top of each other to show all the amazing things we see at night out our window."
While Koch will orbit the moon as a member of the Artemis II crew in 2024, another unnamed crew is expected to land on the moon in 2025.
On Monday, Koch said she is looking forward to working with the other Artemis II crew members.
"They all have a military background and I come from a more raw technical engineering background and I think that that complements one another really well," Koch said. "I think we'll work together great and I hope to be someone on the crew that really is that engineering expert and I hope that that can be the way I contribute the most."
Looking further into the future, Koch said she'd love to be chosen for a mission to Mars, even though she'd miss her husband and her family.
"For Mars, I'd ask my family and friends to make small surprises for me to open on designated dates," she said in an interview in 2016. "A handwritten card when you've been away 15 months can be the best thing imaginable."
NASA names Christina Hammock Koch 1st woman to launch to moon
Expedition 59 crew members, including NASA's Christina Hammock Koch (C), Nick Hague of NASA (top) and Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos wave farewell before boarding the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft for launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 14, 2019. The crew spent 6 1/2 months living and working aboard the International Space Station.
N\ASA Photo by Bill Ingalls/UPI | License Photo
U.S. Navy pilot to become first person of color to go to the moon
By Simon Druker
NASA astronaut Victor Glover will become the first person of color to orbit the moon when the space agency’s Artemis II mission launches as early as next year, the space agency announced Monday. Photo courtesy of NASA
April 3 (UPI) -- NASA astronaut Victor Glover will become the first person of color to orbit the moon, when the space agency's Artemis II mission launches as early as next year.
Glover, a captain and test pilot in the U.S. Navy was named Monday as part of the four-member crew, which will perform a lunar flyby test before returning to Earth.
Born in Pomona, Calif., Glover has been an astronaut since 2013. The aviator served as second-in-command for Crew-1 SpaceX Crew Dragon. The second-ever crewed flight for the spacecraft landed successfully in May 2021.
Glover will serve as one of two pilots on the Artemis II Mission, tentatively scheduled for launch in November, 2024.
It wasn't the father of four's first time leaving the atmosphere.
Glover also served as Flight Engineer during Expedition 64 aboard the International Space Station. At the time, he became the first Black astronaut to serve on the space station.
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During that mission, Glover shared pictures of the sunrise and sunset on his Twitter account, garnering international attention.
"I love sunrises and sunsets. Can you see the bands of color," Glover, who turns 47 later this month, Tweeted at the time
"They remind me of the scripture in Psalm 30, 'weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.' It seems darkest just before sunrise. I wish you all love and light. Goodnight from the ISS."
After graduating in 1994 from Ontario High School in Ontario, Calif., Glover went on to get his bachelor of science degree in general engineering from California Polytechnic State University. He earned his wings of gold after completing advanced flight training in 2001.
He served as National Society of Black Engineers while he attended the university.
He now holds a master of science in flight test engineering, as well as a master of science in systems engineering from the Naval Post
He has regularly taken time to speak to schoolchildren about the wonders of space.
""Inspiration is, 'Wow, I didn't realize that I could do that. I want to go to school and study that thing,'" he said during a 2021 interview.
"It turns into decisions."
As a pilot, Glover accumulated more than 3,000 flight hours in more than 40 aircraft, including over 400 landings on U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, often considered one of the most difficult tasks a fighter pilot performs. Of those carrier arrested landings, 24 came during combat missions.
He has been deployed across the world both in war and peacetime.
The importance of becoming the first person of color to eventually circle the moon was not lost on Glover on Monday.
"This is a big day. We have a lot to celebrate and it's so much more than the four names that have been announced," the veteran aviator said after his name and those of his crewmates were called by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
"This is humanity's crew," Nelson told the audience at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
In 2021, MSBNC named Glover to its list of 23 Black leaders who are shaping history today.
Later Monday, Glover shared a photo of the mission patches of the four crew members.
Should Glover and his fellow astronauts successfully execute the approximate 10-day lunar orbit mission, it would pave the way for NASA's planned mission to the surface of the moon.
That subsequent Artemis III Mission is slated to take place no earlier than 2025.
NASA is designing the Artemis missions in conjunction with the Gateway Program. Once built and launched, the orbiting space station will allow for ongoing exploration and research in deep space, including docking ports for multiple visiting spacecraft.
The platform will be used by astronauts to live, work, and prepare for lunar surface missions.
First astronaut of color to head to the moon: Victor J. Glover Jr.
NASA astronaut Victor J. Glover Jr. is seen during a NASA event at which it was announced that he, and NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins were assigned to the first mission to the International Space Station onboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on August 3, 2018. NASA Photo by Bill Ingalls/UPI | License Photo
By Simon Druker
NASA astronaut Victor Glover will become the first person of color to orbit the moon when the space agency’s Artemis II mission launches as early as next year, the space agency announced Monday. Photo courtesy of NASA
April 3 (UPI) -- NASA astronaut Victor Glover will become the first person of color to orbit the moon, when the space agency's Artemis II mission launches as early as next year.
Glover, a captain and test pilot in the U.S. Navy was named Monday as part of the four-member crew, which will perform a lunar flyby test before returning to Earth.
Born in Pomona, Calif., Glover has been an astronaut since 2013. The aviator served as second-in-command for Crew-1 SpaceX Crew Dragon. The second-ever crewed flight for the spacecraft landed successfully in May 2021.
Glover will serve as one of two pilots on the Artemis II Mission, tentatively scheduled for launch in November, 2024.
It wasn't the father of four's first time leaving the atmosphere.
Glover also served as Flight Engineer during Expedition 64 aboard the International Space Station. At the time, he became the first Black astronaut to serve on the space station.
RELATED Boeing pushes Starliner test flight to July
During that mission, Glover shared pictures of the sunrise and sunset on his Twitter account, garnering international attention.
"I love sunrises and sunsets. Can you see the bands of color," Glover, who turns 47 later this month, Tweeted at the time
"They remind me of the scripture in Psalm 30, 'weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.' It seems darkest just before sunrise. I wish you all love and light. Goodnight from the ISS."
After graduating in 1994 from Ontario High School in Ontario, Calif., Glover went on to get his bachelor of science degree in general engineering from California Polytechnic State University. He earned his wings of gold after completing advanced flight training in 2001.
He served as National Society of Black Engineers while he attended the university.
He now holds a master of science in flight test engineering, as well as a master of science in systems engineering from the Naval Post
He has regularly taken time to speak to schoolchildren about the wonders of space.
""Inspiration is, 'Wow, I didn't realize that I could do that. I want to go to school and study that thing,'" he said during a 2021 interview.
"It turns into decisions."
As a pilot, Glover accumulated more than 3,000 flight hours in more than 40 aircraft, including over 400 landings on U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, often considered one of the most difficult tasks a fighter pilot performs. Of those carrier arrested landings, 24 came during combat missions.
He has been deployed across the world both in war and peacetime.
The importance of becoming the first person of color to eventually circle the moon was not lost on Glover on Monday.
"This is a big day. We have a lot to celebrate and it's so much more than the four names that have been announced," the veteran aviator said after his name and those of his crewmates were called by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
"This is humanity's crew," Nelson told the audience at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
In 2021, MSBNC named Glover to its list of 23 Black leaders who are shaping history today.
Later Monday, Glover shared a photo of the mission patches of the four crew members.
Should Glover and his fellow astronauts successfully execute the approximate 10-day lunar orbit mission, it would pave the way for NASA's planned mission to the surface of the moon.
That subsequent Artemis III Mission is slated to take place no earlier than 2025.
NASA is designing the Artemis missions in conjunction with the Gateway Program. Once built and launched, the orbiting space station will allow for ongoing exploration and research in deep space, including docking ports for multiple visiting spacecraft.
The platform will be used by astronauts to live, work, and prepare for lunar surface missions.
First astronaut of color to head to the moon: Victor J. Glover Jr.
NASA astronaut Victor J. Glover Jr. is seen during a NASA event at which it was announced that he, and NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins were assigned to the first mission to the International Space Station onboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on August 3, 2018. NASA Photo by Bill Ingalls/UPI | License Photo
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