NC State grad makes history as first woman on moon mission

Christina Koch took the opportunity to talk about her unique experience as a chance to reflect on the universality of space exploration.
Posted 3/27/2026, 6:52:00 PM Updated 3/27/2026, 8:00:07 PM

For that for me that aspect of this flight isn't

necessarily about any one person

It's the thing to celebrate is that we as a

world actually are living in an era where we know

that we have to go for all and by all

in order to answer humanity's call to explore

I recognize that we talk about these superlatives

We talk about the firsts and that's a great thing

because it brings people in

What is state of the art right now in human

spaceflight Where are we Where are we reaching Where have

we been And just like that vista I am so

grateful to those that paved the way for me to

be here and for all of us to be here

and it's an honor to potentially inspire the explorers of

the future

But again the big thing to explore to celebrate and

the big thing about that that we should all be

talking about is we collectively made the decision to be

here in a place where everyone gets to contribute equally

and work equally hard to achieve their dreams

© WRAL