WASHINGTON — Christina Koch, who spent 328 consecutive days aboard the International Space Station and flew around the Moon on Artemis II in April, will not fly again. NASA said Tuesday that she will become its acting deputy chief engineer on November 1 and, with the appointment, move to management astronaut status, which makes her ineligible for future spaceflight assignments.
The announcement frames the move as a promotion. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said Koch “has seen NASA engineering from both sides of the equation,” building complex systems on the ground and trusting them with her life in space. He credited her with helping lead Americans back around the Moon on Artemis II.
Koch was a mission specialist on that flight, whose crew told NASA of five Moon flashes that one camera clip did not show. She succeeds Katherine Van Hooser, who is retiring after more than 35 years at the agency, including as chief engineer for the space shuttle main engine through the final 21 shuttle flights and as NASA’s deputy chief engineer since 2023.
In the new job, Koch will help lead NASA’s engineering community, with duties covering technical oversight, mission readiness and engineering standards across programs and projects, according to the agency’s release.
The change comes as NASA lines up its next crewed flights. The Artemis III crew of four astronauts is due to fly to low Earth orbit next year, and in an advisory NASA said it will update plans for returning astronauts to the lunar surface by 2028 on October 23. Koch’s change of status removes one veteran from future flight assignments.
What the release does not contain is a word from Koch. It quotes Isaacman and Amit Kshatriya, NASA’s associate administrator and chief engineer, and does not say whether she sought the post or was assigned it, or whether she had been considered for a later Artemis flight. By NASA’s own description, the woman who holds the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman has flown her last mission.
