Christina Koch

But ultimately, we will always choose Earth, we will always choose each other.

Christina Hammock Koch (born January 29, 1979) is an American Engineer and NASA astronaut. She flew to the International Space Station in 2019–2020 as part of Expeditions 59, 60, and 61, conducted the first all‑female spacewalks, and set the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman. In 2026, she became the first woman to travel to the Moon aboard Artemis II.

Quotes

2020s

• Houston, we have you the same, and it is so great to hear from Earth again. To Asia, Africa and Oceana, we are looking back at you, we hear you can look up and see the moon right now. We see you too. When we burned this burn towards the moon, I said that we do not leave Earth, but that we choose it. And that is true. We will explore, we will build. We will build ships, we will visit again. We will construct science outposts, we will drive rovers, we will do radio astronomy. We will found companies, we will bolster industry, we will inspire. But ultimately, we will always choose Earth, we will always choose each other.
  • Shortly after the reacquisition of signal of Artemis II after it passed behind the Moon (6 April 2026). ^{[citation needed]}
• What struck me wasn't necessarily just Earth, it was all the blackness around it. Earth was just this lifeboat hanging undisturbingly [sic] in the universe... So I may have not learned (I know I haven't learned) everything this journey has yet to teach me. But there's one new thing I know, and that is, planet Earth: you are a crew.
  • At a press conference in Houston following the successful splashdown of Artemis II in the Pacific Ocean (11 April 2026).^{[citation needed]}