Astronaut alum Christina Koch to speak at NC State graduation

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- North Carolina State University announced that graduate and NASA astronaut Christina Koch will speak for its first-ever virtual graduation.

The commencement ceremony will take place December 4.

Koch is a three-time graduate of NC State. She graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering and earned a Bachelor of Science in physics and a Master of Science in electrical engineering in 2002.

N.C. State Chancellor Randy Woodson will confer an honorary degree on Koch during the virtual event.

Koch was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 2013. She served as a flight engineer on the International Space Station for three expeditions.

This year Koch set the record for the longest single space flight by a woman and participated in the first all-female spacewalk. She's a Michigan native who grew up in Jacksonville and attended that North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics.

Before becoming an astronaut, Koch held roles in remote scientific field engineering, which took her to American Samoa, Antarctica, Alaska and Greenland, and in space science instrument development. Her roles included work as an electrical engineer at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics and as a research associate for the U.S. Antarctic Program.