HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — When NASA and the Canadian Space Agency announced the crew for their Artemis II moon flyby mission on Monday, the staff of Space Camp here in the Rocket City had their hearts swell with pride, as one of their campers is among those heading up the mission.
Christina Koch already has an illustrious career in spaceflight. She took part in the first all-female space walk at the International Space Station in 2019. She was named mission specialist for the Artemis' 4-person crew.
She was also included in the Time Magazine 100 Most Influential People list of 2020 following her return to earth.
But all that might not have happened without at least one of her five - yes, five - summers spent in Huntsville taking part of Space Camp. She was a camper between 1992 and 1996, according to the camp's officials.
When being inducted into Space Camp's Hall of Fame in 2019, Koch spoke live from the ISS and talked about how her love of space and desire to explore it grew by leaps and bounds over those five summers.
"Eventually I learned to redefine what Space Camp and Space Academy meant to me," she said. "I found out I wasn't the only one dreaming of being part of the space program. I met lifelong friends and people from all over the country. My horizons were widened and I had a new perspective from which to measure my successes and guide my path."
Koch will be joined in the flyby mission with Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, and Jeremy Hansen, when it begins in November.