Astronaut from North Carolina launches into history



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At 3:14 pm Christina Koch s directed to the International Space Station and its story aboard the Soyuz MS-12 spacecraft from Kazakhstan.

His companion astronaut Nick Hague and cosmonaut Alexy Ovhinin joined him for a relatively short six and a half hour flight, before arriving at the mooring with the ISS around 20:45.

On March 29, Koch is expected to join Anne McClain on the first outing in the all-female space.

In an interview last month, Koch attributed her education to Jacksonville, North Carolina, as one of the reasons she became interested in the space.

Growing up in East North Carolina was a beautiful place, and I consider it one of the many reasons why I have been interested in things like space and space. exploration, "said Koch. "The ocean, obviously, is a beautiful thing in North Carolina. It's one of our treasures and, of course, the state of NB and all the opportunities there. "

According to his biography of NASA, Koch studied at the state of N.-C. to obtain a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering and Physics before obtaining a Master's degree in Electrical Engineering.

Koch is passionate about the experiences she will drive aboard the ISS.

"Some medical experiments allow us to participate as subjects," she said. We are therefore examining some of the effects of microgravity on long-duration aircraft to inform our study of the design of the future Mars mission. It's so exciting and, of course, as a physicist and electrical engineer, I'm very excited about a lot of physical science experiments that we're going to do. "

As it should be, the 14th of March is also dressed for STEM, purple door on the day of the Pi feast. Women's fields in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) wore a purple color to draw attention to the need for more women in STEM careers.

At the Brevard Institute for Astronomical Research Pisgah, the teaching team is always looking for new ways to get young people interested in science.

They hope that Koch's contribution to NASA and space exploration will help inspire the next generation.

"What excites us most is that a North Carolina astronaut travels to the International Space Station and that he will stay there for a while," said Tim Delisle, responsible for field studies at PARI. "It's a very exciting thing for us here, and we work with a lot of kids who visit our site and are always looking for that inspiring number they can contact and say that's what I'm going to do someday. "

The Redstone rocket engine installed at PARI. (Photo credit: Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute)

PARI is home to a Redstone rocket engine, on which another major woman in NASA's history worked, Katherine Johnson. His contributions to the Mercury program were highlighted in the 2016 film "Hidden Figures".

Delisle hopes that Koch's contributions will help shed light on the many women who have contributed to the history of space science.

"One of the things we are seeing is being ignored more and more when we look at the curriculum that children are taught about space science and the types of inspiration and models that are taught: it's often left out and hoping that something like this will happen will start to change that, "said Delisle.

Koch was selected by NASA in 2013 on a list of more than 6,100 applications. She has been training for this mission for five years.

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