NC astronaut Christina Koch flying to the moon. What to know

This Wednesday, humans will embark on a lunar voyage for the first time since 1972.

One of those humans is a North Carolinian: astronaut Christina Koch. She’s currently in preflight quarantine, preparing for liftoff on April 1 at 6:24 p.m. — should the weather and the equipment cooperate.

Here’s what to know about Koch.

Christina Koch’s North Carolina roots

She grew up Jacksonville, NC, and attended NC State. Though originally from Michigan, Koch grew up in Jacksonville, where she dreamed of growing up to be an astronaut. She transferred from White Oak High School in Jacksonville to the North Carolina School of Science and Math, a residential public high school in Durham operated by the UNC System.

For college, she attended NC State University in Raleigh, where she earned her bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and physics and a master’s degree in electrical engineering. In 2023, she told The N&O that she’s “proud to represent the Wolfpack in whatever way I can.” She is the first NC State graduate to go to space.

Christina Koch set to make history

She’ll make history as the first woman to embark on a lunar mission.

“I am so grateful to those that paved the way for me to be here … in order to potentially inspire explorers of the future,” Koch told reporters at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday. “But the big thing to celebrate is that … [we are] in a spot that everybody will get to contribute equally and work equally exhausting to realize their desires.”

Her fellow astronauts Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen will also make history on the mission as the first person of color and non-American, respectfully, to visit the moon.

Artemis II mission faced delays

Her mission to the moon has faced substantial delays. This trip around the moon was initially planned for late 2024. Then, it was pushed to September 2025. That never happened.

In February, it was pushed back again to the new date: April 1.

But if things aren’t fully ready by Wednesday, NASA has identified several other potential launch times through April 6, NPR reported. It will take several days to reach the moon, and all told, the mission is expected to last approximately 10 days.

Koch already has set world record

She broke the world record for longest spaceflight by a woman after being in orbit for more than 320 days in 2019 and 2020. Also in 2019, she participated in the first all-woman spacewalk.

That year, The News & Observer named her Tar Heel of the Month.

“[The] values of treating everyone well and putting people first I think are some of the things I still carry forward with me from North Carolina today,” she instructed The N&O then.

Koch seeks adventure

She lived at the South Pole. Early in her career, she left NASA to work at remote research centers at the South Pole. There, she also served as a firefighter and on ocean and glacier search and rescue teams.

Koch hopes to land on the moon

Next time, the plan is for her to land on the moon. This mission, called Artemis II, is a test flight for an eventual Artemis III, during which the astronauts will actually land on the moon. This time around, they’ll be travelling around the far side of the moon and briefly lose contact with mission control.

How to watch Artemis II launch

• The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences is hosting a sold-out launch party to celebrate Koch on Wednesday in downtown Raleigh.
• The launch will be livestreamed at plus.nasa.gov as well as on NASA’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/nasa. The two-hour launch window begins at 6:24 p.m. EST.

This story was initially revealed March 31, 2026 at 9:48 AM.