Following a multitude of achievements, Christina Koch becomes NASA’s acting deputy chief engineer
Photo Courtesy of Bill Stafford, NASA- Wikimedia Commons
On Oct. 13, NASA announced that Astronaut Christina Koch will be assuming the role of “the agency’s acting deputy chief engineer” in the near future; the position will render Koch no longer permitted for any further spaceflight, but will give her the ability to “help lead NASA’s engineering community.” NASA Administrator Jarad Isaacman expressed that Koch’s experience in both “developing complex systems on the ground and trusting them with her life in space” make her the ideal person to fill the role, as The News & Observer reports.
The National Women’s History Museum features a vast telling of Koch’s life before her time with NASA. Born a dreamer, Koch wanted to be an astronaut throughout her childhood in Grand Rapids, Michigan; by attending the North Carolina School of Science and Math and North Carolina State University, she was able to get her “Bachelor of Science degrees in electrical engineering and physics,” and eventually pursue “a Master of Science in electrical engineering” in order to reach her dreams, as reported by the museum.
The new role comes after Koch’s various accomplishments during her time traveling through space. According to a report on Space.com, Koch completed two spaceflights in the past: she was a member of the Artemis II flight team, “and a 328-day-flight to the International Space Station.”
The Artemis II flight was a 10-day mission in which the spacecraft circled the moon in order to get close up images of each side, marking “the first time humans had been anywhere near our natural satellite in more than 50 years” as reported by ScienceNews.
As per NASA’s bio on Koch, while aboard the International Space Station (ISS) she “[s]erv[ed] as a Flight Engineer on the ISS for Expeditions 59, 60 and 61” and worked on “hundreds of experiments in many kinds of science and technology development.” NASA’s website also lists the seven awards and honors that Koch has earned throughout her time working with the agency.
Koch has also achieved several accomplishments in regards to women in space travel; as the National Air and Space Museum states, she holds the record for being the “woman with the most consecutive days in space.” The museum also highlights her achievement of being part of “the first planned extra-vehicular activity (EVA, or spacewalk) by two women (Koch and Anne McClain).” The National Women’s History Museum notes that these feats are especially impressive considering that “NASA did not allow women into their astronaut program until the late 1970s, the first American woman did not go to space until 1983, and NASA only had one spacesuit to fit women in 2019.”
Following her retirement from space travel, Koch is being celebrated by the Grand Rapids Public Museum through a display of “an official NASA uniform and several patches from Christina Koch” which will be there for a limited time, as is reported by Grand Rapid’s local news outlet WoodTV.
After spending 337 days off of our planet and traveling around 140 million miles over the course of her two missions, Koch is expected to continue to accomplish great things. Her future at NASA is likely to involve assisting in accomplishing some of NASA’s goals, “including landing astronauts back on the lunar surface, building a Moon base, advancing nuclear power in space and preparing for Mars,” as Titusville’s Hometown News reports.