HISTORY AND HER STORY IN THE MAKING

March 30, 2026 – NASA’s Artemis II mission will soon leave Earth on a historic journey and two female astronauts and friends will be in space at the same time. One is on the International Space Station and the other is set to become the first woman to fly near the moon.

NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir will have a not so close encounter as Meir monitors from the ISS where she is conducting research and Koch ventures farther into space than any woman in history.

Both Koch and Meir were selected as NASA astronauts in 2013 and have actually made history together before. On Oct. 18, 2019 Meir and Koch took part in the first all-female spacewalk. The spacewalk lasted more than seven hours and broke down long held gender barriers in space exploration.

Of the less than 800 people who have flown during the 65 years of human spaceflight, about 100 have been women. Fewer than 90 of those have been on an orbital flight.

None of them have been to the moon and back. Christina Koch has been training for more than a decade to change that statistic. As Koch says on her facebook page, “To all those reaching to new heights: yes, you can.”

Viera and everyone on Florida’s Space Coast are ready to see history and her story being made, again.

Source: FLORIDA TODAY