Christina Hammock Koch
Christina Hammock Koch is an American engineer and NASA astronaut whose career bridges polar field research, long-duration station operations, work, and Artemis deep-space flight. She set the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman during her 2019-2020 International mission.
- Born
- January 29, 1979
- Died
- N/A
- Birthplace
- Grand Rapids, Michigan,United States
Flights
2
Spacewalks
6
EVA time
42 hours, 15 minutes
In space
338 days, 15 hours, 30 minutes
Bio
Koch studied electrical engineering and physics at North Carolina State University, then built a technical career around scientific instruments, remote field operations, and space-science engineering. Before NASA selected her as an astronaut in 2013, she worked in Antarctic and Arctic environments where reliability, field judgment, and systems knowledge mattered every day.
Her first spaceflight launched on Soyuz MS-12 in March 2019 and ended with her return on Soyuz MS-13 in February 2020. Across 59, 60, and 61, she served as a , supported station research and maintenance, and completed six EVAs totaling about 42 hours, 15 minutes, including the first all-woman spacewalk with Jessica Meir.
On Artemis II in April 2026, Koch became the first woman to travel beyond and fly around the Moon during Orion's crewed lunar . That mission made her one of the first Artemis astronauts to carry human spaceflight back into deep space after Apollo.