https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/active

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center

Houston, Texas 77058

May 2023

Christina H. Koch

NASA Astronaut

Summary:

Christina Hammock Koch [pronunciation: “Cook”] was selected as a NASA astronaut in 2013. She served as flight 

engineer on the International Space Station (ISS) for Expedition 59, 60 and 61. Koch set a record for the longest single 

spaceflight by a woman with a total of 328 days in space and participated in the first all-female spacewalk. She has been 

assigned as Mission Specialist I of NASA’s Artemis II mission.

Personal Data:

Koch is a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan, grew up in Jacksonville, North Carolina and resided in Livingston, Montana

when she was selected to join the Astronaut Corps. Growing up spending summers on her family’s farm in Michigan, she 

was instilled with a passion for hard work and challenges. Her hobbies include surfing, rock climbing, community service, 

running, yoga, backpacking, photography and travel.

Education:

Koch attended North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, where she earned Bachelor of Science degrees 

in electrical engineering and physics and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering and studied abroad at the 

University of Ghana. She attended high school at the North Carolina School of Science and Math in Durham, North 

Carolina and White Oak High School in Jacksonville, North Carolina. She later received an Honorary PhD from North 

Carolina State University.

Experience:

Koch’s experience prior to becoming an Astronaut spanned both space science instrument development and remote

scientific field engineering. Her career began as an Electrical Engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

where she contributed to instruments on several NASA space science missions. Koch then became a Research Associate 

in the United States Antarctic Program which included a yearlong stay with a winter-over at the Admunsen-Scott South 

Pole Station and season at Palmer Station. While in this role, she served as a member of the Firefighting and Search and 

Rescue Teams. Koch then returned to space science instrument development as an Electrical Engineer at the Johns 

Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory’s Space Department, where she contributed to instruments on missions

including Juno and the Van Allen Probes. Koch then returned to remote scientific field work with tours at Palmer Station 

in Antarctica and Summit Station in Greenland. Next, joining the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, she 

continued work at remote scientific bases, serving as a Field Engineer in Utqiagvik, Alaska and as Station Chief of the 

American Samoa Observatory. Throughout her career, she has done technical instructing, volunteer tutoring and 

educational outreach.

NASA Experience:

Koch participated in the NASA Academy program in 2001 and worked as an Electrical Engineer at GSFC early in her 

career. She was selected in 2013 as one of eight members of the 21st NASA astronaut class and completed Astronaut 
https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/active

Christina H. Koch

Candidate training in 2015. In 2018, she was assigned to her first space flight, a long duration mission on the ISS. After 

her spaceflight, Koch served as Branch Chief of the Assigned Crew Branch in the Astronaut Office. She then went on a 

rotation as Assistant for Technical Integration for the Center Director at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Koch is currently 

training for NASA’s Artemis II mission.

Spaceflight Experience:

Koch launched on March 14, 2019 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft with Roscosmos 

Cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA Astronaut Nick Hague. She returned to Earth on February 6, 2020 on the MS-13

Soyuz spacecraft with Roscosmos Cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov and European Space Agency (ESA) Astronaut Luca 

Parmitano. Serving as a Flight Engineer on the ISS for Expeditions 59, 60 and 61, she and her crewmates contributed to 

hundreds of experiments in many kinds of science and technology development. Some of the scientific highlights from 

her missions include doing robotics for upgrades to the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, growing protein crystals for 

pharmaceutical research, and testing 3D biological printers in microgravity. Koch conducted six spacewalks, including the 

first three all women spacewalks, totaling 42 hours and 15 minutes. She has spent a total of 328 days in space.

Awards/Honors:

Neil Armstrong Award of Excellence, Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, 2020; Astronautics Engineer Award, National 

Space Club & Foundation, 2020; Global ATHENA Leadership Award, ATHENA International, 2020. NASA Group 

Achievement Award, NASA Juno Mission Jupiter Energetic Particle Detector Instrument, 2012; Johns Hopkins University 

Applied Physics Laboratory, Invention of the Year nominee, 2009; United States Congress Antarctic Service Medal with 

Winter-Over distinction, 2005; NASA Group Achievement Award, NASA Suzaku Mission X-ray Spectrometer, 2005.