WASHINGTON: As a former national team cyclist who’d fix her own bikes, and before that as a child helping out on her family’s cattle farm, NASA trainee astronaut Christina Birch has plenty of experience working with her hands.
With America’s sights now set on returning to the Moon — this time establishing long-term habitats — Birch is dreaming big: “If I could assist the mission in any way, by helping build something on the Moon, that would be super cool,” she said.
The 35-year-old is one of ten new recruits announced by the US space agency this week, the latest members of what it calls the “Artemis generation,” named for the Artemis program to put American boots on lunar soil later this decade, and later on to Mars.
Selected from a competitive field of 12,000 applicants, their diverse profiles have been picked with the goal of accomplishing humankind’s toughest exploration missions to date.
Among them are high-level scientists. Chris Williams, 38, is a medical physicist and assistant professor at Harvard, whose research focused on developing image guidance techniques for cancer treatments.
“I was very inspired by the Moon missions as a kid, and so NASA’s Artemis program to go back to the Moon in a sustainable way is something that I’m really passionate about,” he said in a video call.
Birch holds a doctorate in biological engineering from MIT. Her dreams of space travel were inspired by the work she was doing in her own laboratory.
“It probably wasn’t until I was working in the lab, you know, as a bio engineer, doing these experiments with cells and proteins, and I saw that similar experiments are being done aboard the space station. And I said, ‘Well, hey, I’ve got those skills!’”
Another feather in her cap: She’s an ex-track cyclist on the US team, who qualified for the Olympics and has won World Cup medals in the team pursuit and Madison race.
