Koch is NASA acting deputy chief engineer as Van Hooser retires

Christina Koch is acting deputy chief engineer, and Katherine Van Hooser is in retirement.

Koch's status includes helping lead NASA's engineering community, and she is ineligible for future spaceflight assignments.

Koch is listed as acting deputy chief engineer and management astronaut, and her status includes helping lead NASA's engineering community.

She is ineligible for future spaceflight assignments, and her announcement date is 2026-10-13.

Koch served as a mission specialist on Artemis II, which is recorded as the first crewed trip around the Moon in more than 50 years.

Her recorded entries include 328 days, the longest single spaceflight by a woman, and first all-female spacewalks.

Koch's listed engineering work includes electrical engineer at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, scientific instruments for space missions, and scientific field engineering in Antarctica and the Arctic.

She has held leadership positions within NASA's Astronaut Office and at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Van Hooser is in retirement, and her record includes propulsion engineering and technical leadership, liquid rocket engine turbomachinery, and chief engineer for the space shuttle main engine during the final 21 shuttle flights.

She is also listed as first chief engineer of the Space Launch System's Liquid Engines Element, linked to propulsion systems supporting NASA's Artemis missions, Marshall's chief engineer, and NASA's deputy chief engineer.

Koch brings Artemis II crew experience into her acting deputy chief engineer role and work to help lead NASA's engineering community. Artemis II is recorded as the first crewed trip around the Moon in more than 50 years and has a 2026-04 date.

Van Hooser's retirement follows propulsion engineering and technical leadership tied to the space shuttle main engine and the Space Launch System's Liquid Engines Element, which is linked to propulsion systems supporting NASA's Artemis missions.