Why Astronaut Christina Koch’s Message About Being a Crew Means Even More This Week
All photos via NASA
"A crew is inescapably, beautifully, dutifully linked ... Planet Earth, you are a crew."
Words uttered presciently and poetically by NASA astronaut Christina Koch in her first public address after returning from space on the Artemis II mission.
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Koch went on to describe a crew as a group that is in it together no matter what, pulling together every minute with the same purpose...willing to sacrifice for each other, give grace and hold each other accountable while remaining inexorably linked. She noted that from her vantage point in space, Earth looked like a tiny lifeboat floating in the blackness of the surrounding universe.
"I know I haven't learned everything this journey has yet to teach me," Koch confided at the end of her comments to the rapt room, "but there's one new thing I know. And that is - Planet Earth: You. Are. A. Crew."
And as we shared and reshared the spectacular images sent back by the Artemis II crew - taken by astronauts on the same devices we held in our palms - something else about the images began to go viral.
The larger crew supporting this mission seemed to be largely...
Am I wrong or is that entire room all women?
Wait, is the NASA Launch Director the woman with the mic?
That whole desk is women too! Who are they??
This is a sampling of DMs from Être girls watching Artemis II coverage together, and they missed nothing. And as current Chair of the International Space Station National Lab's STEM Education & Workforce Development Subcommittee, I couldn't get enough.
From the voices narrating the launch and splashdown - including Être mentor from The Epic Mentor Guide and her own book Sharing Space, Cady Coleman, PhD - to the mission specialists in direct and constant contact with the crew, girls saw women everywhere.
Video via NASA Artemis
There were firsts - like Koch being the first woman to fly around the moon, Charlie Blackwell-Thompson running the show as NASA's first female launch director, and Vanessa Wyche as the first Black female Director of the Johnson Space Center.
And there were more. Astronauts like Christine Birch, Jessica Watkins, Stephanie Wilson, Jenni Gibbons and Jasmin Moghbeli talked directly with the crew and chatted across social media, and NASA Public Affairs Officer Leah Cheshier Mustachio walked us through details on podcasts. Laura Poliah was part of Ground Operations and Erica Sandoval led her team through launch safety protocols. In photo after photo that went viral, girls saw images where the rooms that mattered most were full of female role models. A crew of them - all working towards and cheering on the same mission.
What does that mean for the next generation of engineers, execs, astronauts, astrophysicists, geologists, technicians and more who breathlessly watched the launch and splashdown and are still poring over the photos?
It reminds them - as they listen to Christina Koch's message and scroll through supporting images - that we are all one crew. Pulling as role models with the same purpose and inescapably, beautifully, dutifully linked...we are one crew.
As Earth Day dawns this Wednesday with a theme of Our Power, Our Planet, may it remind us, like the photos the Artemis II crew took of our planet from across the universe, to think of ourselves in every classroom, locker room, boardroom and mission control room, as a single and powerful crew.
Looking forward to what this crew does next,
Illana
ÊXTRAS: Three more things about Earth Day this week you won't want to miss: Resources to be impactful in your community this year, a tracker to follow top Earth Day events around the globe, and this history of Earth Day and why it is celebrated.
