(FOX 5/KUSI) — The crew aboard the Artemis II is scheduled to splash down off the coast of San Diego early Friday evening.
It’s a 10-day journey filled with many firsts — the first manned mission to the moon in over 50 years, the furthest any human has ever ventured from Earth into space, the first time humans have seen the full far side of the moon, the first Black astronaut to travel further than low Earth orbit and the first woman to travel into deep space around the moon.
For Christina Koch, one of the four astronauts on board the Orion spacecraft, being a trailblazer is something familiar.
Besides being the first woman to journey into deep space and conduct a lunar flyby, she also participated in the first all-female spacewalk and previously set the record for spending the most time on a spaceflight than any other woman before, 328 days to be exact.
Since she was a little girl, Koch knew she wanted to be an astronaut.
Born in Grand Rapids, Mich., Koch’s family eventually moved to Jacksonville, N.C. Koch attended North Carolina State University, where she earned bachelor’s degrees in electrical engineering and physics. She also earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering, according to NASA.
From then on, Koch started her career trajectory at NASA, joining the NASA Academy program in 2001. During her early career, she also worked as an electrical engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), where she helped develop instruments for several space missions.
She also did remote scientific field work in the South Pole, Antarctica, Greenland, Alaska and Samoa.
In 2013, Koch was selected as one of eight members of the 21st NASA astronaut class and completed Astronaut Candidate training in 2015. Three years later, she was assigned her first space flight aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
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While on the ISS as a flight engineer, Koch completed the longest single spaceflight by a woman and participated in the first all-female spacewalk, along with Jessica Meir.
On board the Orion, Koch is a mission specialist, assisting with tasks like checking the spacecraft’s life support, navigation and communication systems.
During the Artemis II journey to the moon, NASA has posted photos taken by the astronauts of their observations in space and of one another inside the spacecraft, giving the world a little glimpse at what it might be like to be part of such a monumental feat.
NASA releases photos of far side of the moon taken from Artemis II
One of those photos captures Koch as she peers out of a window of the Orion, Earth illuminated behind her, highlighting her face and a braid that hangs freely from her head. Koch’s Instagram caption reads, “First braids to leave Earth orbit. (unconfirmed).”
A comment on the post puts the significance of it all so simply: “The language of hair that binds all women together 
congrats.”
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