For anyone following current space news, the Artemis II mission has just returned from its historic flight around the moon, marking the farthest manned flight from Earth and the first people to see the dark side of the moon. The team consisted of four people: Commander Reid Weisman, Pilot Victor Glover, Canadian Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen, and USA Mission Specialist Christina Koch.
Koch has been a standout member of the crew, breaking records left and right. As the first woman to orbit the moon, and prior to that being the woman with the longest single spaceflight of 328 days aboard the International Space Station. After the Artemis mission, she has secured her legacy as a major role model for women and girls across the world. But what does a legendary astronaut do in her free time, down on earth? She’s spent hours in a harness, climbing up routes across the world.
Under her NASA profile, it’s displayed among her many hobbies that she is an “avid rock and ice climber,” and has been climbing for over a decade. During an interview with Climbing.com, she discusses how she discovered climbing during her college career at North Carolina State University, and has since said that she prefers trad climbing or technical ice climbing. She can be found ice climbing in Hyalite Canyon in Montana, and also loves to backpack through Wyoming.
So, a NASA astronaut climbs. What does that have to do with spaceflight and her now decorated career as an astronaut? Koch actually credits climbing with overcoming fear and learning how to focus under intense situations. She compares the gear management of multi-pitch climbs to spacewalks, saying that the management systems are very similar. Angela Carnevale, Coronado Art Teacher and former climbing coach agreed, saying that “I’m sure that belay systems – like rope management and the redundancy of making sure you’re always protected, carries over pretty well.”
During her interview to onboard with the team, Koch also mentioned her surprise that, despite her intense electrical engineering background, she found herself talking more about her climbing skills to the higher ups. The fear management, technical skills, and physical fitness are all skills that have allowed her to excel in the STEM field, and extend her astronaut career.
