Christina Hammock Koch (or Christina M. Hammock) was an American engineer and NASA astronaut. In 2019, Christina Koch and Jessica Meir became the first women to participate in an all-female spacewalk. She holds the record for the longest single space flight by a woman, spending 328 days in space and performing six spacewalks. On April 3, 2023, she made headlines when she was selected to be a member of the Artemis 2 flight crew, scheduled to orbit the moon in 2024.
Wiki/Biography
Christina Hammock Koch was born on Monday, January 29, 1979, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States (44 years; as of 2023). Her zodiac sign is Aquarius. When she was an infant, her family moved to Dearborn, Michigan. Later, when Christina was a little girl, the family moved to North Carolina. Growing up, she often went to Grand Rapids for a few weeks each summer and stayed at her grandparents’ farm in Sparta. Koch dreamed of becoming an astronaut since he was a child. A summer at space camp in Huntsville, Alabama, sparked her passion to become an astronaut. She attended White Oak High School in Jacksonville and then the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham, graduating in 1997.
Christina Hammock Koch (right) attended White Oak High School as a teenager
She then pursued a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Physics at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, followed by a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering. In 2001, Koch graduated from NASA Academy at Goddard Space Flight Center.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′4″
Hair color: light brown
Eye color: light brown
family
Her mother is from Frederick, Maryland, and her father is from Jacksonville, North Carolina. Her roots are from West Michigan.
Parents and siblings
Her father, Ronald Hammock, was a urologist. Her mother’s name was Barbara (Homeridge) Johnson. She has four siblings. She is the eldest daughter. Her sister’s name is Devine Johnson.
NASA astronaut Christina Hammock Koch and her father Ronald Hammock
Christina Hammock Koch (center) with her mother Barbara Johnson (left) and sister Dwayne Johnson (right)
husband and children
Her husband’s name was Robert Koch.
Christine Hammock Koch and her husband Robert Koch
others
Her maternal grandparents’ names were Walter and Dolores Homrich. The Homrichs are farmers and owners of the popular Under the Pines Fruit Market on Northwest Alpine Avenue in Comstock Park. The Homeridge Family Farm, “Under the Pines,” was owned by Walter and Dolores Homeridge and operated by Dave Homeridge, Christina Hammock’s uncle.
Profession
Koch began her career as an electrical engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, where she worked on space science instrument design. At the same time, she served as an adjunct instructor at Montgomery College in Maryland and conducted physics laboratory classes. From 2004 to 2007, she served as a research associate with the U.S. Antarctic Program, completing multiple deployments, including a year-long winter stay at the Admundson-Scott Antarctic Station, where temperatures were minus 111 degrees Fahrenheit (-79.4 degrees Celsius), and a season at Palmer Station. During this time she served as a member of the fire brigade and search and rescue team. She then returned to space science instrument development as an electrical engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (2007-2009), where she contributed to missions such as the Juno spacecraft to Jupiter. She then returned to work at remote scientific research stations, including as a field engineer in the Arctic. Before joining NASA’s 2013 astronaut class, she served as station chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in American Samoa.
On July 8, 2015, Christina Hammock Koch (fourth from left) and other members of the 2013 astronaut class took a group photo at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston after receiving astronaut badges symbolizing the completion of training.
She was selected as one of eight members of the 21st NASA astronaut class in 2013 and completed astronaut candidate training in 2015. On March 14, 2019, she was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard Soyuz MS-12. She served as a flight engineer on Expeditions 59, 60, and 61 of the International Space Station, where she contributed to numerous experiments in biology, earth sciences, human research, physical sciences, and technology development. On October 18, 2019, Koch and Jessica Meir became the first women to participate in an all-female spacewalk to replace a power control unit located on the exterior of the International Space Station. Koch performed six spacewalks, including the first three all-female spacewalks, totaling 42 hours and 15 minutes. On December 28, 2019, Koch stayed on the International Space Station for 328 days, breaking the record for the longest continuous stay by a woman in space, surpassing Peggy Whitson’s 289-day long-term stay. She returned from space on February 6, 2020.
Christina Hammock Koch landed on Earth on February 6, 2020, after spending a record 328 days in space
After the space flight, Koch served as chief of the Designated Crew Division in the Astronaut Office. She currently serves in rotation as the Technical Integration Assistant to the Director at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. In 2017, NASA developed the Artemis program with three partner agencies – the European Space Agency (ESA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The launch of robotic and human lunar exploration programs is the first time since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 that human presence has been re-established on the moon. Artemis 1, the first space flight of NASA’s Artemis program, is an unmanned mission around the moon. November 16, 2022. On April 3, 2023, Koch was selected as a crew member for the Artemis II flight, along with Gregory R. Wiseman, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen. Artemis 2, the first manned mission to the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972, will conduct a lunar flyby test and return to Earth. If the mission is successful, Christina Hammock Koch will become the first woman to orbit the moon.
The crew of NASA’s Artemis 2 mission (left to right), NASA astronauts Christina Hammock Koch, Reed Wiseman (seated), Victor Glover and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hanson
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- Neil Armstrong Award for Excellence, Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, 2020
- Aerospace Engineer Award, National Aerospace Clubs and Foundations, 2020
- 2020 Athena International Global Athena Leadership Awards
- NASA Group Achievement Award, NASA Juno Mission’s High-Energy Particle Detector to Jupiter, 2012
- Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Invention of the Year Nominee, 2009
- 2005 U.S. Congressional Antarctic Service Medal, Winner of the Winter Medal of Honor
- NASA Group Achievement Award, NASA Suzaku Mission X-ray Spectrometer, 2005
Facts/Trivia
- Her family affectionately calls her Tina.
- In an interview, she revealed that she had studied abroad, including Ghana, West Africa.
Christine Hammock Koch in Ghana, West Africa
- In his free time, Koch enjoys backpacking, rock climbing, boating, surfing, running, traveling, yoga, community service, and photography.
Christina Hammock Koch is rock climbing
- In December 2020, Koch was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree by his alma mater, North Carolina State University.
- She rode her motorcycle solo across the United States, from North Carolina to Montana.
Christina Hammock Koch poses with bike during solo motorcycle trip across America
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education