GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – In a world where many in the media and in government are not able to define what a woman is, they have found new relevance in the term and have been touting Michigan-born Christina Koch as the first woman to be going around the moon.

It’ll be NASA’s first moon mission in over 50 years and Koch will be part of a four-person crew who will take a trip around the moon but won’t land on it. NASA’s Artemis II mission will take off from the Kennedy Space Station in Florida in November of 2024 and the 44-year-old Grand Rapids native who lives in Galveston, Texas is excited to be chosen.

MORE NEWS: Detroit’s “DROP Trump” Rally Draws A Whopping 12 People

Koch is already a record-setter for the longest amount of time a woman has spent in space – 328 days. It was her first space flight and she was a flight engineer, sent to the International Space Station (ISS). During that time, she worked on hundreds of experiments and participated in studies to support future missions which included research on isolation, radiation, stress and how the human body adjusts to weightlessness.

She also took a record for her first all-female space walk with Jessica Meir in 2019. They replaced a power controller on the seven hour and 17-minute walk. Those records got Koch on the list of Time’s Most Influential People of 2020. Now she’s the Artemis II Mission Specialist.

Koch is described as an avid sailor, rock climber and surfer and says she has wanted to be an astronaut all of her life. She said in 2020, “I really don’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be an astronaut. For me, I learned that if I was going to be an astronaut, it was because my passions had turned me into someone that could contribute the most as someone contributing to human space flight.”

She also had a window into the space program when she was growing up. Space Camp, Koch said in an interview was “a place where I found out I wasn’t the only one dreaming to be 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. And I had incentive. Going to Space Camp was my reward for keeping my grades up.”

Her current immediate family includes her husband, Robert, and her dog, LBD (Little Brown Dog) who can be seen in this 2020 video after arriving home from her 328-day spaceflight. Besides hanging out with Robert and LBD, Koch enjoys backpacking, running, yoga, photography and travel and her NASA bio includes over a dozen honors and awards during her career.

Koch, who was born in Michigan, was raised in North Carolina, but spent summers on the family farm in Michigan where she helped her grandparents at their market, Under the Pines. She was residing in Livingston, Montana when she was selected to join the Astronaut Corps. And now lives in Texas.

MORE NEWS: Ann Arbor Wants EV Truck That Ford Is Considering Cancelling

Koch’s resumé is impressive with a Bachelor of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering and Physics and a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University. After completing her education, she became an Electrical Engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. From there, she became a research associate for the United States Antarctic Program and lived a year at the South Pole. In her role there, she also served as a member of the Firefighting and Search and Rescue Teams.

Koch then returned to space science instrument development as an Electrical Engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory’s Space Department where she contributed to instruments on missions including Juno and the Van Allen Probes. Koch then went on to remote scientific field work with tours at Palmer Station in Antarctica and winter seasons at Summit Station in Greenland. Next, joining the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), she continued work at remote scientific bases, serving as a Field Engineer in Utqiagvik, Alaska and then as Station Chief of the American Samoa Observatory. Throughout her career, she was involved in technical instructing, volunteer tutoring and educational outreach.

In 2021, Koch graduated from NASA’S Academy program at Goddard Space Flight Center. In 2013, she was one of eight selected as part of NASA’s 21st class of astronauts and then after two years of training, she became an official astronaut.

Koch’s aunt, Loretta Homrich, told The Detroit News, “We’re very, very proud for her. We’re excited for her. You couldn’t ask for anyone more suited for this mission.” Koch’s family were taken by surprise when they heard the news about the mission as Koch and the rest of the crew had to withhold the details before the official announcement.

After the names of the crew were announced on Monday, Koch said, “Am I excited? Absolutely! The one thing I’m most excited about is that we will carry your excitement, your aspirations, your dreams, on this mission.” She added, “We are going to launch from Kennedy Space Center, we are going to hear the words ‘go for launch’ on top of the most powerful rocket NASA’s ever made.”

As the only professional engineer aboard Artemis II, NASA director of flight operations, Norm Knight, said about Koch, “I know who Mission Control will be calling on when it’s time to fix something on-board.”

Of the 355 people sent to space, only 55 of them have been women (15%). All 24 people sent to orbit the moon and the 12 who walked on the lunar surface were all men.

The first woman to leave the earth’s atmosphere was Russian Valentina Tereshkova in 1937. It wasn’t until 1983 that American women were sent to space.