To the Stars

It’s an essential astronaut skill: the ability to focus simultaneously on the mundane task at hand — tightening a bolt on the side of a space station, for instance — and its place in the big picture — your mission’s aim to advance science and get you back home in one piece.

自从她创立了NASA的宇航员培训候选计划以来的三年中，校友克里斯蒂娜·汉莫克·科赫（Alumna Christina Hammock Koch）增加了许多新技能，包括讲俄罗斯和飞行超音速喷气机。

但是，北卡罗来纳州杰克逊维尔（Jacksonville）的本地人一直具有关注这一时刻的关键能力，而不会失去长期的比赛。

As a child, Koch dreamed of becoming an astronaut. A summer at Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala., reshaped her plan to get there. During an appearance at Talley Student Union this past winter, Koch recalled being shown a checklist of essential skills and experiences for a future astronaut.

“我认为根据清单过着自己的生活，不值得一个有责任真正成为宇航员的人，，，，”她说。“所以在那时,我决定生活y life according to my interests and passions. Down the road, if I looked at the experiences that I had gathered, and I thought that I really could contribute to the human spaceflight program as an astronaut, I would apply.”

这种哲学使她进入了北卡罗来纳州，并有多种经验。有些，例如Double-Majoring物理and电气工程or interning for a summer at NASA, checked the traditional boxes for future astronauts.

Others, like being a staff photographer for the student newspaper or volunteering with social justice organizations, strayed outside those boxes.

科赫通过所有人，专注于她面前的那一刻，但在太空旅行中保持了未来。

校友斯蒂芬·雷诺兹（Stephen Reynolds）和约翰·布朗丁（John Blondin）等导师的鼓励都杰出了物理学的本科教授，以及电气和计算机工程系的本科建议主任塞西莉亚·汤森（Cecilia Townsend）使她保持着这两种轨道。

她说：“我告诉我的顾问，我想成为一名宇航员，他们从不劝阻我。”“他们为我找到了空间内的机会，并鼓励我追求它。”

One of those opportunities was a summer undergraduate research experience in Blondin’s astrophysics lab. That summer of hands-on work opened new doors.

她说：“我可以做的事情对北卡罗来纳州东部的某人听起来如此陌生，这一事实非常重要。”“这让我走上了在新情况下具有自信心的轨迹。”

在获得物理和电气工程学士学位以及电气工程硕士学位后，科赫避开了军事和试点学校，这是两条传统的宇航员计划路线。取而代之的是，在2004年加入美国南极计划之前，她在美国国家航空航天局（NASA）担任工程师两年。

这个角色以及国家海洋和大气管理局的角色将她带到了地球上最偏远的地方：南极（两次），格陵兰，阿拉斯加和美国萨摩亚。这些经历是为空间广阔的恰当准备。

2yrs ago…@vicglover我进行了第一次航天训练。宇航员真是真实。#ASTRONAUTCANDIDATETBTpic.twitter.com/iutpd9oigi

— Christina H Koch (@Astro_Christina)2016年7月28日

Koch graduated from astronaut training program in 2015. Since then, she’s split her time between the present — doing her day job at Johnson Space Center in Houston and touring the country to raise awareness of the space program – and the future —practicing spacewalks and keeping in top physical shape.

从北卡罗来纳州东部到外太空，这是一条漫长的道路。科赫（Koch）离她的目的地很近，但她仍然可能没有到达那里。并非每个宇航员都进入轨道。

Wherever her path leads, Koch has stuck to the choice she made decades ago as a Space Camper.

“The most important thing to me was following the things I was passionate about,” she says. “I knew if I was going to get (to space), it was going to be because I excelled at the things I was passionate about.”

科赫本周返回罗利接受科学学院‘杰出的校友奖。她以前已入选电气和计算机工程部Hall of Fame。