Cari Alexis Koch
“The Stars Don’t Look Bigger, But They Do Look Brighter in Space”
(Astronaut Sally Ride quote)
Cari began a lifelong love of astronauts and space travel while growing up in Florida. She visited The Kennedy Space Center in Junior High school and was instantly captivated by the possibility of space travel. Her fascination continued into college; after that, she completed the Master Class “Space Exploration.”
She later moved to Houston with her husband. She continued and expanded her love of space by visiting the Space Center Houston, which is the “premiere authentic and immersive center for science and space exploration.” Cari made a point to experience all the exhibits, but the one that was unmistakably her favorite was the shuttle replica Independence, which is mounted on the original NASA 905 shuttle carrier aircraft. Inside the Independence, she would spend most of her time looking into the cockpit, so much so that she often had to move out of the way of other visitors so they could also experience it. Unlike many visitors, Cari was not awed by the size of the Independence but rather saw it as a vehicle to take her into space.
Houston is also blessed with the Burke Baker Planetarium at the Museum of Natural History. During her visits to the Planetarium, she would watch multiple shows in a row, such as Cosmic Collisions, Passport to the Universe, Black Holes, and others. She frequently commented on how it felt like she was in the cockpit of her spacecraft during these shows.
As she joins the crew of the Celestis Space Flight, her spirit will undoubtedly brighten the stars in space.
