How a former Antarctic researcher became the first woman to travel around the Moon

Art · Published 30 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Christina Koch’s path to the Moon was paved in the world’s most isolated corners. From wintering at the South Pole to setting records on the International Space Station, her career as an engineer and explorer prepared her for the Artemis II mission, marking a new era for human spaceflight.

Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1979, Christina Koch nurtured a childhood dream of space exploration, fueled by images of frontiers she pinned to her bedroom walls. Her academic foundation at North Carolina State University, where she earned degrees in electrical engineering and physics, launched a career defined by technical rigor. Before joining the NASA astronaut corps in 2013, she worked on scientific instruments for missions like Juno and the Van Allen Probes, while also serving as a field engineer in some of Earth’s most extreme environments, including Greenland, Alaska, and the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.

These remote experiences provided a crucial proving ground for the isolation and environmental challenges of space. During her time in Antarctica, Koch faced months without sunlight or fresh supplies, developing the mental resilience required for long-duration missions. This preparation proved invaluable when she launched to the International Space Station in 2019. During her 328-day stay, she set the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman and participated in the first all-female spacewalks, performing essential maintenance on the station’s power systems.

In April 2026, Koch reached a historic milestone as a mission specialist on Artemis II. Alongside crewmates Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, and Jeremy Hansen, she became the first woman to travel around the Moon. The mission, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, took the crew 252,756 miles from Earth, setting a record for the farthest distance humans have traveled in space. Beyond the technical achievements, Koch’s journey represents a critical step for future lunar exploration, providing data on how the human body responds to deep space travel, and inspiring a new generation to look toward the stars.

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