NASA astronaut describes time in Brisbane as absolute “blast”

She’s spent thousands of hours in space, but NASA astronaut Christina Koch describes being in Brisbane for the World Science Festival as the real honour.

NASA Astronaut Christina Koch with space fans Zara Ward, 10, and Poppy Robertson, 10, at Queensland Museum.

NASA astronaut Christina Koch has landed in the sunshine state for the World Science Festival Brisbane to help inspire the next generation of astronauts. Koch was selected as an astronaut in 2013 and served as a flight engineer at the International Space Station (ISS) for three expeditions. She has since spent thousands of hours in space, setting the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman with a total of 328 days in space.

Koch spent Wednesday morning at QPAC’s Concert Hall for World Science Festival Brisbane’s Epic Engineering presentation where she taught students from Grades 7, 8 and 9 about the ISS.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Koch revealed she was ecstatic when asked to represent NASA at World Science Festival Brisbane.

“I’m here to do outreach to share the amazing things that NASA is doing. I love the theme this year, Infinite Awe, I think there’s nothing that embodies space flight and human exploration in space better than that,” she said.

“It’s an incredible opportunity for me, I am having a blast. I’m a science nerd at heart so to be able to meet some of my heroes here, to be able to see the incredible things that Queensland Museum has, it’s an incredible honour.

“It is so cool to see the enthusiasm that kids have and I think what that means is we are inspiring people to know that if they study whatever they are passionate about and they come together they can do big things.

NASA Astronaut Christina Koch at Queensland Museum. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“Inspiring someone to work hard at something, that feels great.”

Koch is set to head back to space in 2026 as part of a four-person crew that will travel to the far side of the moon for the Artemis II mission, a crucial first step toward the goal of manned missions to mars.

“We are going around the moon for the first time ever with humans on board the Orion spacecraft and riding on the space launch system rocket,” she said.

“We’re going to make way for our friends on the next missions to the moon to continue what we’ve been doing in human space exploration, and answer some of the fundamental questions of our time, are we alone?”

She said the Artemis II mission will allow the crew to “just be humans.”

“All the life support systems, all the displays and controls, all the things to be healthy in space for long periods of time, those are what we are testing out,” she said.

“Our friends that fly on the next one will be ready to really focus on the landing, which is going to be a whole other set of amazing events. That’s really how we’re paving the way.

“As astronauts our whole goal is exploration and this feels just like that. It feels like going out, learning new things, trying new things and training with an incredible team that is getting us prepared.”

NASA Astronaut Christina Koch with space fans Zara Ward, 10, and Poppy Robertson, 10, at Queensland Museum.

Koch said she was incredibly proud of NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams after they unexpectedly spent nine months at the ISS.

“They weren’t expecting it but like all astronauts they are ready to contribute to the mission in any way they can. They got to do some fun stuff while on board but really happy to have them back on earth as well,” she said.

“For my mission I ended up on board the ISS for almost 11 months. It was just going to be a standard mission, typically six months and after I was on board it was decided that I would go for a long duration. I was ready to stay as long as I needed to.”

World Science Festival Brisbane runs across multiple venues throughout Brisbane until Sunday March 30.

Originally published as NASA astronaut describes time in Brisbane as absolute “blast”