NASA astronaut Christina Koch has been awarded with the Princess of Asturias Award for Concord 2026, as announced this Wednesday, June 17. The jury wanted to highlight his figure as an inspiring reference for new generations. It’s no wonder, well this crew member of Artemis II He became a mass idol, especially for girls, during the time of his mission to the Moon, but also before and after.
The most curious thing is that this news comes just a week after NASA announced the Artemis III crew in which, contrary to expectations, there is no woman. With this, the Princess of Asturias Award jury makes clear what it seems that NASA has failed to see. That including women in their new lunar project transcends far beyond the mission.
A woman who breaks records. Christina Koch has reached a great peak of fame by becoming one of the four crew members of Artemis II. However, she had already broken records before becoming the first woman to travel to lunar orbit. She is also the woman who has spent the most time in space, with a stay of 328 consecutive days on the International Space Station. Additionally, along with Jessica Meir, he was part of the first all-female spacewalk.
A true reference. As a child, Koch had a poster in her room with the famous Earthrise image, taken by the Apollo 8 astronauts. Every night she looked at it before going to sleep and wished she could travel beyond Earth and see what those astronauts had managed to observe. For this reason, before her trip to the Moon as a member of Artemis II, she declared that it was an honor for her to “take all the girls in the world to the Moon.” With that inspiring phrase He made a great statement of intent. I wanted to show that dreams come true and, above all, become a reference beyond the typical male photos of astronauts walking on the Moon.
The case of Cassius. In Spain, Casio holds a competition from time to time for boys and girls, in which they must present drawings of scientists that inspire them. The winners become part of this brand’s special collection of calculators focused on the role of women in science. The schools freely choose the scientists they want to present; but, logically, current events play an important role. For this reason, this year there have been many children who have chosen to Koch to be part of his drawings.
NASA doesn’t know. After the absolute masculinization of the astronaut crews of the Apollo program, NASA had decided to compensate with the Artemis program and include more women in its crew. Koch was the first, but the idea was to maintain this inclusivity until the end, so that even the next person to step on the Moon would be a woman. However, on June 9 there was a big turn of events when it was announced to the crew that they will be traveling aboard Artemis III. Neither the four official astronauts nor the reserve astronaut are women.
The advertisement led to a wave of criticismwhich forced NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman to intervene and ensure that the people considered most qualified and available for this specific mission have been selected. Even so, there are those who consider that this could be more related to Donald Trump’s order to federal agencies to eliminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs and references. We will have to wait for Artemis IV to see who finally steps on the Moon. At least Christina Koch has seen her work recognized with the Princess of Asturias Award and, above all, with the love of all those girls who, as she promised, have accompanied her on her trip to the Moon.
Image | NASA/Bill Ingalls
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