Jump to content

Recommended Posts

  • Publishers
Posted

4 min read

Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)

A woman wearing glasses and a blue patterned shirt and green sweater smiles at the camera as she stands in front of a green banner that says, “Girl Scouts of North East Ohio.”
Danielle Koch, an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, was honored by the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio as a 2024 Woman of Distinction. She accepted the award during a ceremony on May 16.
Credit: Girl Scouts of North East Ohio/Andrew Jordan

You’d think a NASA aerospace engineer who spends her days inside a giant dome researching how to make plane engines quieter and spacecraft systems more efficient would have a pretty booked schedule. Still, advocacy and mentoring, especially for women and girls in STEM, is something Danielle Koch always tries to say yes to.

For decades, Koch has tutored students, volunteered as a mentor for engineering challenges, and engaged Pre-K through Ph.D. classes with stories from her career at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. Koch also works to recruit women and others from underrepresented groups to the field and find ways to remove barriers to their advancement.

For her efforts, Koch was recently recognized by the Girl Scouts of North East Ohio as a 2024 Woman of Distinction. The award, presented to Koch during a ceremony on May 16, celebrates women whose leadership contributes to the community, providing girls with positive role models. Koch says that diverse people and programs have similarly shaped her own career path.

“None of this is anything I’ve done myself; there are huge groups of people who are making change and making things better for all of us,” Koch said. “Every story I tell about me being a woman at NASA is really a story about them.”

: A man and a woman wearing masks work on equipment inside a NASA acoustic facility. Large tan fiberglass wedges line the walls of the facility.
Danielle Koch (right) is an aerospace engineer in the Acoustics Branch at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, where she works to make flight quieter and spacecraft systems more efficient.
Credit: NASA/Jef Janis

A Pittsburgh native and graduate of Case Western Reserve University, Koch began her career as a test engineer at NASA Glenn in 1990 as the only woman in her work group. While there were women around her, Koch says she did not see many senior-level female engineers or scientists “working ahead of her.” With determination and the “rock-solid” support of colleagues, family, and friends, Koch forged ahead, becoming a research aerospace engineer in NASA Glenn’s Acoustics Branch in 1998.

“She’s somebody that goes above and beyond almost all of the time, while using her knowledge and career to bring others up to her level,” said John Lucero, Koch’s supervisor and the chief of the Acoustics Branch at NASA Glenn.

Koch realized the landscape around her was evolving in 2016 when she sat down in one of NASA Glenn’s biggest conference rooms for the center’s annual Women Ignite workshop. It was the first time she’d seen the space entirely filled with women.

“It was striking,” Koch said. “Learning from each other and being visible to each other, it’s so huge.”

Koch points to insights gleaned from these workshops — which are focused on networking, skill-building, and empowerment — as propelling her forward, along with the center’s Women in STEM Leadership Development Program, launched to help the women of NASA Glenn connect and grow as leaders.

microsoftteams-image-11.jpg?w=2048
NASA Glenn Research Center aerospace engineer Danielle Koch gives a tour of the Aero-Acoustic Propulsion Laboratory to a group of students in 2017.
Credit: NASA/Marvin Smith

Koch also spotlights the value of the Women at Glenn employee resource group, which organizes events and panels, shares job and volunteer opportunities, and provides a platform for addressing issues in the workplace.

“The employee resource group offers a great sense of community for women at the center,” said Women at Glenn co-chair and aerospace engineer Christine Pastor-Barsi. “When you feel like you’re unique, it’s good to know that there are others out there like you, even if you don’t always see them in the room.”

Koch says she’ll continue working as a mentor in the community and advocating for the diverse range of people who choose to take the leap into the STEM fields.

“It’s difficult to be the only one that’s visibly different in a room; it changes the way you communicate, the way you’re perceived,” Koch said. “It’s really important to reach out to people who are different from us and invite them to consider engineering as a career. We all benefit when we work with someone who’s different from ourselves.”

Get Involved + More Resources

View the full article

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Similar Topics

    • By NASA
      A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL spacecraft is launched on NASA’s Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 23 mission to the International Space Station on Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025.Credit: NASA NASA is sending more science, technology demonstrations, and crew supplies to the International Space Station following the successful launch of the agency’s Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 23 mission, or Northrop Grumman CRS-23.
      The company’s Cygnus XL spacecraft, carrying more than 11,000 pounds of cargo to the orbiting laboratory, lifted off at 6:11 p.m. EDT Sunday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This mission is the first flight of the larger, more cargo-capable version of the solar-powered spacecraft. 
      Cygnus XL is scheduled to be captured at 6:35 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 17, by the Canadarm2 robotic arm, which NASA astronaut Jonny Kim will operate with assistance from NASA astronaut Zena Cardman. Following capture, the spacecraft will be installed to the Unity module’s Earth-facing port for cargo unloading.
      The resupply mission is carrying dozens of research experiments that will be conducted during Expedition 73, including materials to produce semiconductor crystals in space and equipment to develop improvements for cryogenic fuel tanks. The spacecraft also will deliver a specialized UV light system to prevent the growth of microbe communities that form in water systems and supplies to produce pharmaceutical crystals that could treat cancer and other diseases.
      These are just a sample of the hundreds of scientific investigations conducted aboard the station in the areas of biology and biotechnology, Earth and space science, physical sciences, as well as technology development and demonstrations. For nearly 25 years, NASA has supported a continuous U.S. human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory, where astronauts have learned to live and work in space for extended periods of time. The space station is a springboard for developing a low Earth economy and NASA’s next great leaps in exploration, including Artemis missions to the Moon and American astronaut missions to Mars.
      NASA’s arrival, capture, and installation coverage are as follows (all times Eastern and subject to change based on real-time operations):
      Wednesday, Sept. 17
      5 a.m. – Arrival coverage begins on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and more.
      6:35 a.m. – Capture of Cygnus XL with the space station’s robotic arm.
      8 a.m. – Installation coverage begins on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and more.
      All coverage times are estimates and could be adjusted based on operations after launch. Follow the space station blog for the most up-to-date information.
      Cygnus XL is scheduled to remain at the orbiting laboratory until March 2026, before it departs and disposes of several thousand pounds of trash through its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, where it will harmlessly burn up. The spacecraft is named the S.S. William “Willie” C. McCool, in honor of the NASA astronaut who perished in 2003 during the space shuttle Columbia accident.
      Learn more about this NASA commercial resupply mission at:
      https://www.nasa.gov/mission/nasas-northrop-grumman-crs-23/
      -end-
      Josh Finch / Jimi Russell
      Headquarters, Washington
      202-358-1100
      joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov / james.j.russell@nasa.gov
      Steven Siceloff
      Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
      321-876-2468
      steven.p.siceloff@nasa.gov
      Sandra Jones / Joseph Zakrzewski
      Johnson Space Center, Houston
      281-483-5111
      sandra.p.jones@nasa.gov / joseph.a.zakrzewski@nasa.gov
      Share
      Details
      Last Updated Sep 14, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
      International Space Station (ISS) Commercial Resupply ISS Research Johnson Space Center Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply View the full article
    • By NASA
      NASA’s Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 23 Rendezvous and Capture
    • By Amazing Space
      NASA / SPACEX CRS-23 ISS RESUPPLY LAUNCH LIVE
    • By Amazing Space
      Live Video from the International Space Station (Seen From The NASA ISS Live Stream)
    • By Amazing Space
      Live Video from the International Space Station (Seen From The NASA ISS Live Stream)
  • Check out these Videos

×
×
  • Create New...