Artemis 2 astronaut Christina Koch of NASA discusses the upcoming moon mission during a press conference on Sept. 24, 2025. (Image credit: NASA TV) Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Get the Space.com Newsletter Breaking space news, the latest updates on rocket launches, skywatching events and more!
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
An account already exists for this email address, please log in. Subscribe to our newsletterChristina Koch is ready to make history.
Koch is one of the four astronauts of Artemis 2, which is scheduled to launch on its round-the-moon mission no earlier than April 1. During her career as a NASA astronaut, she has spent more than 300 days aboard the International Space Station, and she performed the first all-woman spacewalk with Jessica Meir. Artemis 2 will make her the first woman ever to go beyond low Earth orbit (LEO).
Article continues belowThe quartet will spend 10 days in space, if all goes to plan. They will first test their Orion spacecraft in Earth orbit to see how it behaves with its first human crew, then make a trans-lunar injection maneuver to slingshot around the moon and back. Artemis 2 is designed to help lay the foundation for a crewed moon landing on Artemis 4, in 2028.
Space.com spoke with Koch in September 2025 during an Artemis 2 event at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. Below are her remarks during the interview, edited for space and clarity.
"It feels like an incredible privilege and responsibility [to be on Artemis 2]. As a crew, I feel like we consolidated really quickly. That's just a set of values that we've all developed living in the astronaut corps for so many years, and so we felt crew-like very quickly.
"But what has happened in the last few months, for me, is the consolidation and momentum that's building in the wider team — the flight control team, the launch control team. We are firing on all cylinders with those guys doing problem solving [and] answering questions that no one knows the real answer to. Every person that walks into every room is just ready to contribute the most that they can, and to get to the right answer as a team. And it has been awesome.
Get the Space.com NewsletterContact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors"For me, it's bigger than [our crew]. There's levels. Obviously, our crew cohesion and the respect we have from each other — for each other — is so important to get the job done, to get the mission done as successfully as possible, and [as] safely as possible. And building that out to a wider team, to me, is just as important, if not more important. I think we stand on their shoulders. We wouldn't be here if it weren't for our wider teams.
I think for me, [Artemis 2] comes down to not being any single individual's accomplishments. The accomplishment that we can celebrate together is that we got here. Decades ago, we made the right decisions so that our astronaut corps brings diverse backgrounds together to solve the hardest problems. And that, to me, is what's truly worth celebrating, and what I'm honored to be a part of."
Elizabeth HowellContributing WriterElizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., was a staff writer in the spaceflight channel between 2022 and 2024 specializing in Canadian space news. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years from 2012 to 2024. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House, leading world coverage about a lost-and-found space tomato on the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, "Why Am I Taller?" (ECW Press, 2022) is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams.
View MoreYou must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
Logout MORE FROM SPACE...
1Where should we send a real 'Hail Mary' spacecraft? A new study has the answers- 2Astrophotographer captures spectacular photo of Antennae Galaxies dueling in deep space
- 3This Week In Space podcast: Episode 203 — China Rising
- 4'Project Hail Mary' author Andy Weir reveals his favorite scenes in the movie, praises Ryan Gosling's amazing performance, & more (interview)
- 5This Celestron Firstscope is my go-to for moonwatching and it's 15% off in Amazon's Spring Sale
