Update: April 10, 2026: Artemis II successfully splashed down at 6:07 p.m. MDT.

Christina Koch's Artemis II flight is a "Montana to the Moon" story that links Montana to humanity's first crewed mission into the Moon's vicinity in more than 50 years. Koch served as mission specialist on Artemis II, which launched April 1, 2026, and returned to Earth on April 10 after a nearly 10-day mission.

Who she is and her Montana link

Christina Koch is a NASA astronaut and engineer who was living in Livingston, Montana, when NASA selected her for the Astronaut Corps in 2013. She previously set the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman with 328 consecutive days aboard the International Space Station.

She also participated in the first all-female spacewalks, making her one of NASA's most recognized astronauts before this lunar mission. Her Montana connection gives the story a strong local angle while her record in orbit gives it broad national and international relevance.

What Artemis II did

Artemis II launched aboard NASA's Space Launch System rocket and sent the Orion spacecraft on a free-return trajectory around the Moon before bringing the crew safely back to Earth. The mission was designed to test systems, procedures, and crew operations needed for future deep-space missions.

The four-person crew included commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. During the mission, the crew evaluated life-support, navigation, and communications capabilities in deep space.

The historic firsts

With Artemis II, Koch became the first woman to travel beyond low Earth orbit and around the Moon. Victor Glover became the first Black astronaut to travel that far from Earth, and Jeremy Hansen became the first Canadian to do so.

NASA says Artemis II reached 252,756 miles from Earth at its farthest point and surpassed the Apollo 13 record for the farthest distance traveled by a human crew. That made the mission historic not only for its symbolism, but also for its place in the record books.