UPDATED
US astronaut returns to Earth after longest mission by woman

IF SHE WERE A MAN TRUMP WOULD HAVE CONGRATULATED HER 

A WEEK LATER HE STILL HAS NOT MENTIONED HER 

Record-setting astronaut feels good after near year in space

by Marcia Dunn

In this June 2019 photo made available by NASA, astronaut Christina Koch poses for a portrait inside of the vestibule between a SpaceX Dragon cargo craft and the Harmony module of the International Space Station. Still fresh from space, NASA's new record-setting astronaut says that aside from sore muscles and feelings of off-balance, she's readjusting well to gravity after nearly 11 months in space. Koch met with reporters on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020, six days after returning from the International Space Station. Her 328-day mission was the longest ever by a woman. (NASA via AP)

NASA's new record-setting astronaut said Wednesday that aside from sore muscles and trouble with balance, she's readjusting well to gravity after nearly 11 months in space.

Christina Koch met with reporters in Houston six days after returning to Earth from the International Space Station. Her 328-day mission—which ended last Thursday—was the longest ever by a woman.

Her neck hurt for about a day. "I felt like a 2-week-old who was actually working hard to hold up my own head," she said.

She considers herself lucky she didn't have the sore feet and burning skin suffered four years ago by NASA's all-time endurance champ, Scott Kelly, whose mission lasted 340 days.

Koch returned home to Galveston, Texas, to find a kitchen full of chips and salsa, something she'd craved in orbit, along with the Gulf of Mexico. She hit the beach with her husband, Bob, and their dog, a rescue pup named LBD for Little Brown Dog, just three days after her landing in Kazakhstan.

LBD was excited to see her, and vice versa.

"I'm not sure who was more excited to see the other," Koch said.

Their reunion was recorded. "It's just a symbol of coming back to the people and places that you love, to see your favorite animal," she said.

The 41-year-old Koch is an electrical engineer who also has a physics degree. She flew to the space station last March and was part of the first all-female spacewalk in October. Three astronauts remain at the orbiting lab, including the other half of the all-female spacewalk, NASA's Jessica Meir

US astronaut sets record for longest spaceflight by a woman

NASA astronaut comes home to chips and salsa after record 11 months in space

Marcia Dunn The Associated Press Wednesday, February 12, 2020 

U.S. astronaut Christina Koch reacts shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-13 space capsule about 150 km south-east of the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. (Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool Photo via AP)

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. -- NASA's new record-setting astronaut said Wednesday that aside from sore muscles and trouble with balance, she's readjusting well to gravity after nearly 11 months in space.

Christina Koch met with reporters in Houston six days after returning to Earth from the International Space Station. Her 328-day mission -- which ended last Thursday -- was the longest ever by a woman.

Her neck hurt for about a day. "I felt like a 2-week-old who was actually working hard to hold up my own head," she said.

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She considers herself lucky she didn't have the sore feet and burning skin suffered four years ago by NASA's all-time endurance champ, Scott Kelly, whose mission lasted 340 days.

Koch returned home to Galveston, Texas, to find a kitchen full of chips and salsa, something she'd craved in orbit, along with the Gulf of Mexico. She hit the beach with her husband, Bob, and their dog, a rescue pup named LBD for Little Brown Dog, just three days after her landing in Kazakhstan.

LBD was excited to see her, and vice versa.

"I'm not sure who was more excited to see the other," Koch said.

Their reunion was recorded. "It's just a symbol of coming back to the people and places that you love, to see your favourite animal," she said.

The 41-year-old Koch is an electrical engineer who also has a physics degree. She flew to the space station last March and was part of the first all-female spacewalk in October. Three astronauts remain at the orbiting lab, including the other half of the all-female spacewalk, NASA's Jessica Meir.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

US astronaut sets record for longest spaceflight by a woman

Astronaut Christina Koch Returns Home from a Groundbreaking Year in Space

She took six spacewalks, played anti-gravity baseball, and ate pizza on the ISS. Not a bad vacation from Earth.

By Jennifer Leman Feb 6, 2020

NASA/BILL INGALLS

NASA astronaut Christina Koch has returned from a record-breaking 328-day spaceflight.

While aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Koch was part of the first all-female spacewalk and participated in a number of critical research projects.

She launched for the ISS on March 14, 2019.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch and her two space-faring colleagues landed safely on the remote steppes of Kazakhstan this morning.

Koch returned from a record-breaking 328-day space mission—the longest amount of time spent in space by any woman. She launched for the International Space Station (ISS) on March 14, 2019, along with fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin.

While on the ISS, Koch played baseball with her fellow astronauts, ate space pizza (!), and conducted a number of crucial experiments. Crucially, she was part of the team that conducted the first all-female spacewalk. Heck of a résumé.

Koch's 328-day mission is the second longest spaceflight conducted by a U.S. astronaut—Scott Kelly holds that record with 340 days spent in space—but it does break the record for the longest amount of time a woman has spent in orbit. (The record for longest consecutive time spent in space by any person goes to Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who spent almost 438 days aboard the Mir space station in the mid 1990s.)

Groundbreaking Spacewalks

NASA

During her time on the ISS, Koch conducted six spacewalks, including the first all-female spacewalk with astronaut Jessica Meir on October 18, 2019. They repaired a faulty charge-discharge battery unit during their roughly six hour spacewalk.

Last month, Meir and Koch completed a nearly 7.5-hour spacewalk to, again, repair batteries outside the ISS. The spacewalk was briefly hampered by an issue with Koch’s helmet lights, but continued as planned.

Research and Development

NASA

While aboard the ISS, Koch was also responsible for a number of experiments designed to help NASA understand the effects of microgravity on the human body and tiny, tiny proteins. She participated in projects to explore the body's response to weightlessness, radiation, and isolation on long-durations flights, among other things.

Koch played an integral role in the Microgravity Crystals investigation, which aims to freeze proteins associated with tumor growth. Similar projects have been conducted on Earth without success, but conditions in microgravity may prove helpful in combating the growth of cancer-causing proteins.

The astronaut also participated in the Vertebral Strength investigation, which explores the impacts of microgravity on bone and muscle density. Vertebrae and muscles in the spine are particularly susceptible to degradation, which can eventually lead to fractures. Understanding how quickly this happens, and how the body reacts to these stresses, will help NASA

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NASA Wraps Up Historic All-Female Spacewalk

Like all astronauts who spend a significant amount of time in space, Koch will be subjected to a series of tests now that she’s back on Earth. Understanding the potential health hazards associated with spaceflight will help NASA prepare astronauts for future missions to the Moon and Mars.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch landed on the Kazakh stepe after 328 days in space

NASA's Christina Koch returned to Earth safely on Thursday after shattering the spaceflight record for female astronauts with a stay of almost 11 months aboard the International Space Station.

Koch touched down at 0912 GMT on the Kazakh steppe after 328 days in space, along with Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency.

Koch was shown seated and smiling broadly after being extracted from the Soyuz descent module in the Roscosmos space agency's video footage from the landing site.

"I am so overwhelmed and happy right now," said Koch, who blasted off on March 14 last year.

Parmitano pumped his fists in the air after being lifted into his chair while Skvortsov bit into an apple.

US President Donald Trump congratulated Koch on Twitter.

"Welcome back to Earth, @Astro_Christina, and congratulations on breaking the female record for the longest stay in space! You're inspiring young women and making the USA proud!" he tweeted.

Local Kazakhs on horseback were among those to witness the capsule landing in the snow-covered steppe as support crews gathered around the three astronauts, NASA commentator Rob Navias said.

"I've never seen this," Navias exclaimed, reporting that the men stopped to chat with engineering personnel.

Koch, a 41-year-old Michigan-born engineer, on December 28 beat the previous record for a single spaceflight by a woman of 289 days, set by NASA veteran Peggy Whitson in 2016-17.

Koch called three-time flyer Whitson, now 60, "a heroine of mine" and a "mentor" in the space programme after she surpassed the record.

She spoke of her desire to "inspire the next generation of explorers."

Koch also made history as one half of the first-ever all-woman spacewalk along with NASA counterpart Jessica Meir—her classmate from NASA training—in October.

The spacewalk was initially postponed because the space station did not have two suits of the right size for women, leading to allegations of sexism.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch is set to return to Earth after 328 days living and working aboard the International Space Station

Ahead of the three-and-a-half hour journey back to Earth, Koch told NBC News on Tuesday that she would "miss microgravity".

"It's really fun to be in a place where you can just bounce around between the ceiling and the floor whenever you want," she said, smiling as she twisted her body around the ISS.

Koch will now head to NASA headquarters in Houston, via the Kazakh city of Karaganda and Cologne in Germany, where she will undergo medical testing.

Koch's medical data will be especially valuable to NASA scientists as the agency draws up plans for a long-duration manned mission to Mars.

'Make space for women'

Koch's return comes after an advert for a skincare brand ran during an intermission in the American football Super Bowl with a call to "make space for women".

The advert featured NASA astronaut Nicole Stott and saw the company promise to donate up to $500,000 to the non-profit Women Who Code, which works with young women seeking careers in tech and scientific fields.

The first woman in space was Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, whose spaceflight in 1963 is still the only solo mission carried out by a woman.

Russia has sent only one woman to the ISS since expeditions began in 2000—Yelena Serova whose mission launched in 2014.

Both Tereshkova and Serova are now lawmakers in the Russian parliament, where they represent the ruling United Russia party.

Unlike Koch, whose ISS stay was extended, Parmitano and Skvortsov were rounding off regular half-year missions.

Parmitano handed over command of the ISS to Roscosmos's Oleg Skripochka on Tuesday.

The 43-year-old Italian posted regular shots of the Earth while aboard, highlighting the plight of the Amazon rainforest and describing the Alps as "like a spinal column, never bending to time".

Four male cosmonauts have spent a year or longer in space as part of a single mission with Russian Valery Polyakov's 437 days the overall record.

Scott Kelly holds the record for a NASA astronaut, posting 340 days at the ISS before he returned home in 2016.

HERSTORY
Astronaut Christina Koch Opens Up About Spending 328 Days in Space — and Adjusting to Earth Life

Caitlin Keating People March 5, 2020

Astronaut Christina Koch

Imagine witnessing 16 sunrises and sunsets every day for 11 months. Or floating in a sleeping bag while completing 5,248 orbits around Earth and traveling 139 million miles.

The only woman who doesn’t have to imagine is NASA astronaut Christina Koch, who came back to Earth on Feb. 6 after spending 328 days aboard the International Space Station, surpassing the previous record held by Peggy Whitson for the longest single spaceflight by a woman.

“I feel incredibly privileged to have been a part of this,” 41-year-old Koch tells PEOPLE for this week’s Women Changing the World issue days after returning home. “Thinking back to a year in your life and being able to contribute as much as I have had the opportunity to has just been awesome.”

The contributions were and continue to be endless. There was the “fun” study of plant biology and how we can grow them in space, which included tasting fresh mizuna mustard. And then, while “feeling like I was standing on my head all the time,” she participated in the Kidney Cells investigation and another that will try to prevent a lack of gravity from causing bone and muscle loss to astronauts in space.

The Michigan native managed to contribute to hundreds of studies, all while undergoing spatial orientation and “learning how to orient when half of your work might be on the ceiling or the ground, and all of the four walls around you sort of look the same.”

For more on Christina Koch and all of PEOPLE’s Women Changing the World, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday

She points out that on Earth, “you can kind of spatially orient very easily by down is where your feet are and up is in the direction of your head.”

Looking back on her experience with the conditions in space, Koch says, “It’s really amazing to watch the human body adapt to that.”

RELATED: Astronaut Christina Koch Shares Sweet Video of Her Reuniting with Dog After Almost a Year in Space

Leaving space was “bittersweet” for Koch, especially knowing that “there’s views and things that I’ll never see again,” but being home is still wonderful and spectacular.

“I’m overwhelmed with joy to be home and to be experiencing the sights, the smells, the feeling of wind, the feeling of weather, all these things that we grow up with, and we don’t even realize how much they comfort us,” she says. “The blue sky, even, I didn’t see the entire time I was on board. There are things that I’ll miss. There are things that I may never see again, but to be back at home in the environment that I grew up in is really amazing.”

RELATED: NASA Is Hiring New Astronauts — Here’s How You Can Apply for a Trip to the Moon

NASA Christina Koch

While she indulges in everything she missed, like eating plenty of chips and salsa that she didn’t have in space, she is wasting no time.

Koch says she is now motivated more than ever “to pay it forward by my passion for space flight advancement and by my hope that anyone who has a dream has an equal playing field to work hard to achieve that dream.”

“Space flight will benefit when not a single innovative idea is lost because someone didn’t see a place for themselves, and when anyone who is ready to contribute is equally welcomed,” she adds. “Sharing experiences and strategies with future explorers will hopefully mean that those strategies can be turned into more personal success and also more identifying and breaking down barriers. I see a world soon when demographics are more and more transparent as we feed forward the momentum that is generated as more people pursue their passions no matter where it takes them.”

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/03/herstory-how-christina-koch-could.html 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/03/herstory-nasa-astronaut-and-expedition.html 

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=Christina+Koch

NASA astronaut Christina Hammock Koch to become first woman to orbit the moon

      More Photo 's Here

NASA astronaut Christina Hammock Koch to become first woman to orbit the moon - UPI.com

Christina Hammock Koch, who will serve as mission specialist on NASA's Artemis II mission next year, will become the first woman to orbit the moon. Photo courtesy of NASA/Twitter

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.
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.

RELATED NASA unveils Artemis II crew including first woman, person of color to orbit moon

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. 

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

1/4

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

   

HERSTORY
How Christina Koch Could Become a Spaceflight Legend

One of the astronauts in NASA’s current corps could be the first in a generation to walk on the moon—or the first to walk on Mars.

MARINA KOREN MARCH 2, 2020

NASA

When Christina Koch returned to Earth earlier this month, feeling the full force of the planet’s gravity for the first time in a long time, it was the middle of the night in the United States. Her capsule parachuted into the Kazakh desert, and by morning, her name was all over the news. After spending 328 days living on the International Space Station, Koch had set a new record for American women in space.

The volume of attention that morning, however warranted, was somewhat unusual for a modern astronaut. Missions to the space station are routine now, and the last astronaut to have his full name flashing across headlines, as if in marquee lights, was Scott Kelly, who nearly four years earlier broke the American record for long-duration spaceflight.

All of this is to say that, in this era of space travel, most astronauts don’t become household names. Asked to think of an astronaut, most people would probably default to Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon—not to one of the dozens of astronauts who have flown to space in this century, or even one of the three who are there right now. The public today is more likely to be familiar with nonhuman explorers, like the Mars rover Curiosity and the New Horizons spacecraft, which photographed Pluto.


The Coming End of an Era at NASA MARINA KOREN


The Second Moon Landing Was Much Rowdier MARINA KOREN



One Small Controversy About Neil Armstrong’s Giant Leap JACOB STERN

But this century holds potential for new milestones in space exploration, the kind that can turn spacefarers into celebrities. The next Neil Armstrong could already be in NASA’s astronaut corps, which is more diverse now than ever before. This person will have charisma and steely resolve—and probably a very compelling Instagram account.

Read: The next big milestone in American spaceflight

There is no distinct formula that makes astronauts famous, but an obvious component is novelty, says Margaret Weitekamp, a curator in the space-history department at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. Firsts—Armstrong stepping onto the lunar surface, delivering his famous line after he put his boot down—become indelible in public memory. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, is probably the most well-known American female astronaut.

Other superlatives, especially of the Guinness World Records variety—the most, the longest, the oldest—can make astronauts, if not flat-out famous, at least memorable. Peggy Whitson, for example, holds the record for most spacewalks by a woman. Seconds can be even less sticky. Do you remember, for instance, what the commander of Apollo 12, the second moon-landing mission, said when he descended from the lander and touched the gray surface? Or what his name was? Twelve men have walked on the moon, and even those in the space community might struggle to name all of them. Many people don’t realize that there was a third astronaut on the Apollo 11 mission: Michael Collins, who stayed behind in the command module while Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin went to the surface.

Some firsts, of course, can be eclipsed by later, bigger firsts. Alan Shepard was heralded as a national hero when he became the first American to reach space in 1961, less than a month after Yuri Gagarin did it for the Soviet Union. When John Glenn flew a year later, he didn’t just pierce the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space; he circled the planet three times. It was a more intense mission, and Glenn came up with a memorable tagline for it, which he repeated for years to come: “Zero G and I feel fine.” Today, Glenn is arguably the more famous of the two. As NASA grew its astronaut corps in the 1960s, astronauts “needed slightly more extraordinary circumstances to break out of the pack and become that household name,” Weitekamp says. Even milestone “firsts” didn’t always make a lasting impression in the national imagination; the first NASA astronauts of color to travel to space—Guion Bluford, who flew on the shuttle in 1983, and Mae Jemison, who followed in 1992—are icons in the space community, but less well known to laypeople.

The first all-female spacewalk, conducted last fall by Koch and Jessica Meir, drew a great deal of attention, and if it ever materialized, so would the first all-female crew on the ISS. When NASA astronauts launch on a brand-new SpaceX transportation system sometime this year, the first endeavor of its kind, the passengers’ names will most certainly cut through the news cycle. But such milestones, on their own, are unlikely to bestow astronauts with mythical status

“When you start thinking about who’s going to be the next Neil Armstrong, you’re going to be looking for that combination of achievement and that personality that catches the public’s attention, the person who has the ‘it’ factor,” Weitekamp says.

Armstrong, she adds, had it. After he flew a couple of missions for Gemini, NASA’s pre-Apollo program, the agency sent him on a publicity tour through South America. Armstrong took a Spanish conversation class to prepare for the trip and name-dropped important South American figures, particularly in aviation, in his speeches, according to James R. Hansen’s biography of the astronaut. “He never failed to choose the right words,” recalled George Low, a NASA executive who traveled with Armstrong and was impressed.


Low would later manage the Apollo program and its crew assignments, including which astronaut should be the first one out of the lander. Armstrong had proved to NASA leadership not only that he could master the mission—he was one of the agency’s best pilots—but that he could handle the attention, too. Armstrong is famous in part because NASA chose him to be famous and, after he finished the mission, turned him into a spokesman for American spaceflight. Aldrin, meanwhile, may be better remembered for the persona he cultivated after visiting the moon, where he followed Armstrong onto the lunar surface. Whereas Armstrong, who died in 2012, is remembered for his stoic and amiable personality, Aldrin became known for a feisty attitude he has maintained into his 90s. (In recent years, he punched a moon-landing denier outside of a hotel and made a GIF-worthy range of facial expressions behind President Trump as he spoke about space exploration.)

In some cases, the “it” factor can outweigh a record-setting superlative. Chris Hadfield is the first Canadian to do a spacewalk, but he’s best known for his floating rendition of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” on board the ISS, which has more than 45 million views on YouTube. Scott Kelly holds the American record for the most consecutive days in space, but he built his fan base through frequent Instagram posts of beautiful Earth shots. NASA does plenty of work to promote astronauts, especially those involved in the flashiest missions. But thanks to social media—which astronauts are encouraged to use—the spacefarers can take that much more ownership of their public image.

Read: The exquisite boredom of spacewalking

Fans have always been eager for such personal glimpses of astronauts’ personalities, Weitekamp says; in the 1950s and ’60s, Life magazine ran stories about the lives of the Mercury astronauts, ghostwritten but published under the men’s bylines. These days, every NASA astronaut has a professional Twitter account—a very different kind of launchpad for name recognition, but potentially nearly as effective. A tweet from Koch featuring a heartwarming video of the astronaut greeting her dog, adorably overjoyed after their long separation, quickly went viral.

To be a spaceflight legend, an astronaut will likely need, as Weitekamp puts it, extraordinary circumstances. Imagine the first woman on the moon, or the first people to set foot on Mars. It is not unrealistic to think that at the end of this century, the name of the first person to step onto the red planet will be more prominently woven into collective memory than the name Neil Armstrong. By the end of this century, 1969 will be 130 years in the past, as distant a memory as 1890 is now, when Nellie Bly made headlines by circumnavigating the globe, by ship and by rail, in just 72 days.

These explorers are probably already within NASA’s ranks. (Or, perhaps, working for a private company: The 21st century’s most famous spacefarer could end up being Elon Musk.) NASA recently added 11 new members to its active astronaut corps, bringing the total to 48. The new class, fresh off training, “may be assigned to missions destined for the International Space Station, the Moon, and ultimately, Mars,” the space agency said in a statement. These new astronauts can’t predict which among their ranks might be chosen for the next big feat in spaceflight history, but they can start daydreaming about what they might say as they take their own first step. Or they could go the Armstrong route and wait until the moment is near. Days before Apollo 11 launched, a reporter asked whether Armstrong, being “destined to become a historical personage of some consequence,” had come up with “something suitably historical and memorable” to say when he stepped onto the moon. “No, I haven’t,” Armstrong replied. Better to make history first.



MARINA KOREN is a staff writer at The Atlantic.

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SEXIST NASA

Experience, charisma will steer NASA's choice for first woman moonwalker

NOBODY DEFINES MALES ASTRONAUTS AS HAVING CHARISMA AS A JOB QUALIFICATION


NASA astronaut Christina Koch, who in February completed the longest continuous spaceflight for a female astronaut, is one of those who could be the first woman to walk on the moon. File Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo

Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Experience, charisma -- and previous exposure to radiation in space -- will guide NASA's history-making decision to choose the first woman who walks on the moon, according to those familiar with space agency operations.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has said the woman selected will be experienced and will have flown on space missions. Ten current astronauts meet that criteria, and more could soon.

In addition to expertise, NASA will look at the ability to perform well on high-profile missions and to connect with the public, space exploration observers said.

And, some of the most experienced astronauts could be ruled out if they have too much radiation exposure, according to space medicine experts.

Among the potential moon mission candidates, astronauts Christina Koch, 41, and Jessica Meir, 43, raised their profiles earlier this year by carrying out the first-ever all-female spacewalk while stationed on the International Space Station. Koch also set a record for living in space longer than any other woman at 328 days.

Koch and Meir's stature most likely improved after completing their tandem spacewalk, said Nancy Vermeulen, an astrophysicist, pilot and founder of the Belgium-based Space Training Academy.

High pressure

They demonstrated that the two women could work together in a high-pressure situation under the media spotlight, Vermeulen said.

"NASA monitors the synergy among astronauts on a team, how people cooperate together," she said.

But those achievements will pale when compared to walking on the moon, said retired astronaut Kathryn Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space in 1984.

NASA is keenly aware that a moon mission "will catapult this woman, whoever she is [and] make her an icon and role model in a different way than most astronauts," Sullivan said.

Despite creating that fame, NASA's first priority will be "to make sure this mission will succeed and the crew has the right capabilities and chemistry," she said.

Of NASA's 48 active astronauts, 16 are women. Bridenstine and Vice President Mike Pence have committed to sending one of them on the first moon landing in 2024. Four astronauts will make the journey, and two will land, including the woman.

At a 2019 event, Bridenstine went further, saying the 2024 mission could have more than one woman.

As for the actual selection, NASA first will identify an as-yet unknown number of Artemis astronauts to train others and help establish requirements for flights to and around the moon, Bridenstine said in August.

Elite group

"This elite group will include some of the men and women who will fly on early Artemis missions, and we will add more to the team in the future," Bridenstine said via email.

In terms of experience, and among those who could lead the way, three female astronauts have flown on more than one mission.

Sunita Williams, 54, spent 322 days in space over the course of two missions. She is scheduled for her third mission in early 2021 aboard Boeing's Starliner space capsule, should it pass its final uncrewed flight test planned for December.

In 2006, Williams served as a flight engineer on a space shuttle mission to the International Space Station. In 2012, she was launched aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule to the space station.

Williams carried out seven spacewalks, and she and retired astronaut Peggy Whitson broke records for most spacewalks by a woman. Whitson currently holds the mark with 10.

Tracy Caldwell Dyson, 51, flew on a space shuttle mission in August 2007, which added equipment and structural parts to the International Space Station. In 2010, she was launched aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule and spent 174 days living and working aboard the space station as a flight engineer.

Stephanie Wilson, 53, has flown three space shuttle missions -- all of which were about two weeks long -- in 2006, 2007 and 2010. All three missions delivered equipment and supplies to the space station. Wilson operated the station's robotic arm and served as flight engineer, assisting the commander and pilot.

Oldest person ever

If NASA choses one of these women for a lunar landing, she would be the oldest person ever walk on the moon.

Apollo moonwalkers' ages ranged from the youngest, Charlie Duke at 36, to Alan Shepherd at 47. Spaceflight experts said age no longer is the barrier it once was, but physical fitness and agility will be important to endure the mission and move about in cumbersome spacesuits.

In the next year, at least three more women are scheduled to fly on their second space mission -- Megan McArthur, 49, Kathleen Rubins, 41, and Shannon Walker, 55.

And three astronauts have been to space once -- Koch, Meir and Anne McClain, 41.

Two women astronauts, Jeannette Epps, 49, and Nicole Mann, 43, are scheduled for their first trip into space within the next 12 months.


Five women have yet to go into space and have no scheduled missions -- Zena Cardman and Kayla Barron, both 32; Jasmin Moghbeli, 37; Loral O'Hara, 37, and Jessica Watkins, 32.

High-profile mission

NASA chooses astronauts carefully for all missions, and especially so for historical milestones, retired astronaut Sullivan said.

That includes Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins on Apollo 11 and John Young and Robert Crippen on the first space shuttle launch. Sending the first American woman, Sally Ride, into space also was a high-profile decision.

Armstrong was chosen for Apollo 11 because he was a test pilot and an engineer. NASA officials selected him over crewmate Buzz Aldrin to step on the moon first because they thought he didn't have as big an ego, according to a 2001 book by the late Chris Kraft, NASA's first flight director.

NASA picked Young as the first space shuttle mission commander in 1981 because he was a seasoned space veteran with four missions and a walk on the moon.

Sullivan said that neither she nor Ride knew why they were chosen for their historic missions.

The role that astronauts assume on such missions as a standard-bearer for NASA and the nation weighs heavily on the choice. But subtle psychological issues come into play, as well, Sullivan said.

Need to be photogenic

"I wouldn't be shocked if the choice of a woman for the moon mission is sort of slanted toward someone photogenic," Sullivan said. "It's virtually never in play with men, but it's been a subconscious factor at NASA for women.


"There are archetypes that resonate more with society, and I think that's going to be a factor."

She wrote about NASA's view of women in her book, Handprints on Hubble, which also describes the triumphs and frustrations of her career and how she came to deploy the storied telescope in orbit.

While the space agency may value charisma, technical requirements for the first such deep-space mission in decades will be paramount, said Brian C. Odom, the acting NASA chief historian.

"NASA will take everything they've learned over the decades and apply those lessons to this decision" on crew members, Odom said.

"Historically, crew selection depends on the mission and what astronauts are expected to do, so the first mission of its kind often has had pilots and engineers prove the spacecraft capability," Odom said.

Connect with public

Even so, NASA may favor astronauts who have shown an ability to connect with the public such a historic mission, he said.

"Historically, the expectation is that they would be very adept at speaking to the public," Odom said. "NASA aims to inspire people to get involved and follow in the footsteps of astronauts."

While experience is crucial, a limiting factor could be radiation to which astronauts have been exposed.

"I doubt age will matter as much as previous radiation exposure, which NASA does consider when choosing astronauts for long-term missions," said Virginia Wotring, a scientist with the International Space University in France. Her career has focused on health impacts of extended duration space flights.

NASA will disqualify astronauts for having an elevated cancer risk, based on measurements kept by their personal radiation counters, or dosimeters. At the International Space Station, astronauts receive about 10 times the amount of radiation they do on Earth.

Because deep-space missions have a higher risk of radiation exposure, the most likely candidates are those with one successful mission, Wotring said. They would be Koch, Meir, McClain and possibly Mann and Epps after they return from space.

Most radiation

At the same time, Koch's record duration in space for a woman means she also has been exposed to more radiation than the other women. But because older astronauts are thought to have less time to develop cancer, they may not be disqualified based more radiation absorbed, Wotring said.

Mission requirements also may mandate that someone with geology expertise be on the first Artemis landing. That's because NASA confirmed this week it will investigate water ice on the first landing. Astronaut Watkins is a geologist.

The timing remains uncertain for naming the crew to make this first return to the moon flight. NASA doesn't have a timeline for specific flight assignment announcements, the space agency has said.

But NASA will approach that announcement with caution, said Amy Foster, associate professor at the University of Central Florida, who specializes in space history.

While women are a minority among the 48-member astronaut corps, the space agency also could make a statement by selecting a women who represents another minority, Foster said.

Three of the eligible women astronauts are African American -- Epps, Watkins and Wilson. Moghbeli is Iranian-American, while McClain is the only known gay or lesbian astronaut.
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However, it's quite likely NASA will pick a woman astronaut who otherwise is not a minority, Foster said. "Right now, I think checking the one box, in terms of historical minorities [among astronauts], is as risky as NASA will be," she said.

New generation

In making its decision, NASA also will seek to appeal to a new generation of Americans who weren't born when man first walked on the moon.

Sending the first woman there will be almost as important as repeating a landing for the first time since 1972, said astronaut Serena Aunon-Chancellor, who has retired from spaceflight, but still helps to train other astronauts.

"My hope is that young women from all over the world will watch these tremendous events unfold and, without hesitation, begin to forge their own path in space exploration," Aunon-Chancellor said in a statement to UPI.

The first woman moonwalker will be an icon for girls, women and society for many years to come, the International Space University's Wotring said.

"I find myself in a strange position when I'm talking to young people who tell me that as a woman scientist, I am inspirational to them, and I'm just working in a lab here on campus," she said.

"So I think it's going to be incredibly powerful to see a woman walking on the moon -- and change the equation forever."

NASA's 16 women astronauts -- at least one likely to walk on moon


Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson pauses for a portrait in her spacesuit before going underwater in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on July 8, 2019. Photo by Bill Ingalls/UPI

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