Based on the world record nomination from the America Records Institute (AMRI) and Decision No. WK/USA.INDIA1439/2026/No.89, the World Records Union (WorldKings) officially declared Christina Koch as the world’s first woman to orbit the Moon.

The portrait of Christina Koch

Christina Hammock Koch (born January 29, 1979) is an American engineer and NASA astronaut. From an early age, she aspired to become an astronaut. In 1999, she participated in an exchange program at the University of Ghana, Legon, where she studied astrophysics.

Koch graduated from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham in 1997 and then enrolled at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering and physics in 2001 and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering in 2002.

In 2001, she completed the NASA Academy program at the Goddard Space Flight Center. She then spent 2002–2004 working as an electrical engineer at GSFC’s Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics.

In June 2013, Koch was selected by NASA as part of Astronaut Group 21. She completed her training in July 2015, qualifying her for future missions. Her astronaut candidate training included scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in International Space Station systems, spacewalks, robotics, physiological training, T-38 flight training, and water and wilderness survival training.

Koch was later selected as a member of NASA’s Artemis program. On April 3, 2023, she was announced as a mission specialist in the Artemis II crew, which launched at 22:35 UTC on April 1, 2026, and flew by the Moon on April 6, 2026, traveling 6,400 miles beyond the Moon’s far side before returning to Earth. She is the first woman to leave low Earth orbit and to travel near the Moon.

According to en.wikipedia.org