From Record-Setting Orbit to the Engineering Front Office: NASA Puts Christina Koch in Charge

From Record-Setting Orbit to the Engineering Front Office: NASA Puts Christina Koch in Charge

Koch Becomes Acting Deputy Chief Engineer on Nov. 1

NASA announced on Oct. 13 that astronaut and engineer Christina Koch will serve as the agency's acting deputy chief engineer beginning Sunday, Nov. 1. The appointment follows the retirement of Katherine Van Hooser, who concludes more than 35 years of service on Oct. 21. With the move, Koch transitions to management astronaut status and will no longer be eligible for future spaceflight assignments. About 37 outlets carried the story within a day; WESH's headline captured the trade-off: NASA grounded its longest-flying female astronaut by handing her the keys to the engineering kingdom.

The Role Covers Crewed and Robotic Programs

Koch will help lead NASA's engineering community, supporting technical oversight, mission readiness and engineering excellence across the agency's programs and projects, from crewed missions to robotic ones. The word "acting" matters: NASA's release gave no end date for the appointment.

Isaacman Credits Her Ground-and-Space View

"Christina has seen NASA engineering from both sides of the equation: developing complex systems on the ground and trusting them with her life in space," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said. He pointed to "nearly a year living and working aboard the International Space Station" and to her role this year "helping lead America back around the Moon on Artemis II," and said she brings an extraordinary combination of technical expertise, operational experience and judgment as NASA works to return Americans to the lunar surface and build the Moon Base.

A 328-Day Record and the First All-Female Spacewalk

Before she was selected as an astronaut in 2013, Koch worked as an electrical engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, developing scientific instruments for space missions, and did scientific field engineering in Antarctica and the Arctic. She spent 328 consecutive days aboard the ISS, the longest single spaceflight by a woman, surpassing Peggy Whitson's 289 days, and took part in the first all-female spacewalks in 2019. In April 2026 she flew as a mission specialist on Artemis II, the first crewed flight around the Moon in more than 50 years: launched April 1, splashed down April 10, and carried the crew 252,756 miles from Earth at the farthest point. Across two flights she has logged more than 337 days in space.

The Artemis II Crew Is Now Fully Off Flight Status

Koch's appointment closes the loop on the quartet. On Sept. 9, NASA announced that commander Reid Wiseman and pilot Victor Glover were moving out of active astronaut status into emeritus roles that let them keep supporting the lunar program; Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen left active duty in July. At the crew's Oct. 2 celebration in Houston, the final stop of a nationwide outreach tour, three of the four had already stepped away. Koch was the last one still eligible to fly.

Why the Change Matters for the Moon Program

NASA's release framed the job against an agenda that includes returning astronauts to the lunar surface, building infrastructure for longer stays and advancing technologies for future exploration. WRAL and WITN, local outlets in her adopted North Carolina, noted she is a three-time North Carolina State University graduate. With Artemis III in preparation, the engineering community gains a leader who has operated the hardware she now has to sign off on, and the active flight roster loses the woman who holds the female single-flight record.