NASA Astronaut Christina Koch: Proud "Space Plumber" | Artemis II Moon Mission

NASA Astronaut Christina Koch: Proud "Space Plumber" | Artemis II Moon Mission

Artemis II Mission Specialist and NASA Astronaut Christina Koch: “I’m the space plumber, I’m proud to call myself the space plumber.” Mission specialists like Christina train for all roles so they can jump in wherever they are needed. Sometimes that means fixing vital machinery, like the Orion spacecraft's toilet. Working closely with mission control in Houston, Christina was able to restore the Orion’s toilet to normal operations after the crew called down to report a blinking fault light on April 1, 2026.

NASA’s Artemis II crew is on the way to the Moon. After the mission management team polled “Go” Thursday, April 2, 2026, NASA’s Orion spacecraft fired its main engine for five minutes and 50 seconds beginning at 7:49 p.m. EDT, to successfully complete the translunar injection (TLI) burn, sending the crew in Orion out of Earth orbit and on a trajectory toward the Moon.

NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion spacecraft with NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, commander; Victor Glover, pilot; Christina Koch, mission specialist; and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, mission specialist onboard, was successfully launched at 6:35 p.m. EDT Wednesday, April 1, 2026, for the Artemis II Mission from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA’s Artemis II Mission will take Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen on a 10-day journey around the Moon and back aboard their Orion spacecraft.

Artemis II Mission coverage on:

NASA+: https://plus.nasa.gov/scheduled-events/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nasa

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NASA/

X: https://x.com/nasa

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/nasa

Check the Artemis blog for updates: 

https://blogs.nasa.gov/artemis/

Video Credit: NASA/JSC

Duration: 39 seconds
Release Date: April 3, 2026

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