Blasting Off Into History

When Christina Hammock Koch – a three-time graduate of NC State with bachelor’s degrees in physics and electrical engineering and a master’s in electrical engineering – blasts off for the International Space Station next Thursday, she’ll be launching in the middle of Women’s History Month.

If all goes as planned on ISS Expedition 59, she’ll celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing in space.

It will be the culmination of nearly six years of training since she was selected to be one of NASA’s eight astronauts in the Class of 2013. It hasn’t been easy – especially the part where she had to become fluent in Russian so she could communicate with the cosmonauts on board for what is expected to be a six-month stay on orbit some 240 miles above Earth’s surface.

她将在包括她自己在内的各种主题上进行一些普遍的维护工作，并且只有一点时间进行实验。

She’ll take a few trinkets for the two state institutions where she received the bulk of her education before she entered the space program, the North Carolina School of Science and Math and NC State.

科赫（Koch）在北卡罗来纳州杰克逊维尔（Jacksonville）长大的密歇根州人说，她年轻时没有很多女性榜样。但是她的英雄们告诉她认为Big，她的家人从来没有让她不愿追求她的青春期梦，有一天去太空。

That will happen at exactly 3:14 p.m. Thursday, March 14, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan. Students, faculty and staff can attend alaunch viewing eventon the big screens at Riddick Hall Hearth.

Before she left Star City, Russia, for a week in quarantine, Koch answered a few quick questions from her alma mater.

是时候了 - 您如何处理即将推出的发射可能会有的任何蝴蝶？

Over the past six years, our training has been such that we learn to handle those types of nerves really well. As I say often, I like to turn those nerves into a focus. With the training crew we have, I feel very confident. We had final exams last week, so a lot of work went into making sure we had our teamwork and our technical knowledge buttoned up. I couldn’t feel more ready, on a crew level, personal level and a technical level.

期末考试？希望北卡罗来纳州国家准备您在那些方面做得好。

I would say NC State prepared me very well. I can definitely remember my final exams there as well.

Do you have friends and family going with you to Kazahkstan for the launch?

I do, including some friends from North Carolina as well as people from Texas. There is another group who get to watch from NASA Mission Control in Houston. I’m looking forward to knowing that my friends and family are there and that they know I am carrying their dreams with me. They all helped support me and get me where I am.

Are you taking anything with you from NC State and the North Carolina School of Science and Math?

我正在带一些小标志，这两者都与我在一起。我觉得他们俩都为我做好了很好的准备，以至于我对我的所有准备工作以及在那儿工作的人们都在关心我的教育和我的发展来带我去哪里的人说“谢谢”。

显然，这是世界上最酷的工作，但这仍然是一项工作。您如何平衡位置的巨大与实际完成的工作？

It is interesting, because your day is extremely planned. There is actually a piece of software that schedules our time down to the minute. Everything you need to do in a day is included in a package that makes it easy to execute. From the time you wake up, after you are done preparing for work, you are on the go and making sure your time is spent efficiently. That day can include maintenance on board, upgrades to the station, scientific activities and preparations for dynamic operations, like capturing a crew vehicle or spacewalk. There is not a dull moment. Sometimes on the weekends, some people will take some time to themselves to take pictures outside the windows and to keep in touch with friends and family. Some of my other time in remote places has prepared me for staying focused on the job.

You are launching in the middle of Women’s History Month. Put into perspective being a pioneering woman scientist.

It is a unique opportunity. I hope to be able to inspire folks who might be watching. As I grew up in Jacksonville, North Carolina, there weren’t necessarily a lot of engineers that I saw on a daily basis. Somehow, though, I got it into my head that I wanted to be an engineer. So I hope I can be an example to people who might not have someone to look at as a mentor that it doesn’t matter where you come from or what examples there might be around you, you can achieve whatever you’re passionate about. If that’s a role I can serve, it will be my honor to do so.

你将成为第一个前技术员摄影师为地球上每个人拍照。您是否打算在社交媒体上分享一些在太空中的外观？[@Astro_Christina on Twitter和@astro_christina on Instagram。]。

I do plan to do social media, to share the journey and to contribute to the outreach of all the great work going on onboard. I will definitely have the camera out. I am still an avid photographer and I’m looking forward to catching some shots of Raleigh and Durham.