It has been four-and-a-half months since the Artemis II splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on April 10, but the enthusiasm and pride for what the four-member crew accomplished has not diminished one iota at one astronaut’s alma mater.

On Monday, students, faculty, and top elected officials gathered on North Carolina State University’s campus to welcome home NASA astronaut and NC State graduate Christina Hammock Koch. Koch became the first woman to travel beyond low Earth orbit, and with her crew broke the record for the farthest distance humans have ever traveled in space.

Governor Josh Stein told those who were there to celebrate Koch’s achievements that North Carolina has a long and remarkable connection to space exploration, starting with the Wright brothers first sustained flight in Kitty Hawk.

“It is also a reminder that extraordinary achievements do not happen overnight. They require ambitious vision,” said Stein. “They require sustained investment and they require special talent, which is why commitment to cultivating the next generation of engineers, scientists, explorers and dreamers is so important.”

Koch graduated from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics in Durham in 1997 and went on to North Carolina State University to earn Bachelor of Science degrees in electrical engineering and physics, followed by a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering.

Stein told the audience that anything is possible with a public school education.

“The ideas and the people that spring from North Carolina public schools and public universities have taken humankind farther than they have ever gone before,” Stein said. “If North Carolina’s history is any indication, they will take us even farther still.”

Chancellor Kevin Howell said it was only appropriate to rename the Engineering Building II on Centennial Campus as Koch Hall in her honor.

“This three-time NC State graduate has broken barriers, set astounding records, and with her Artemis crewmates, traveled farther from Earth than any other humans in history. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how NC State defines a trailblazer,” said Howell.

Koch was also honored with a special campus mural at the free-expression tunnel and a limited-edition ice cream made by the university’s Howling Cow dairy.

Koch reminded the students that long before she was a NASA astronaut, she was just a quiet college student with ripped jeans, pink hair, and “an inexplicable love of rockets.”

She said her accomplishments would not have been possible if not for those who came before her.

Such as Mary Yarborough, who fought to be admitted, and in 1927 earned her Master of Chemistry, becoming the first woman to attain a graduate degree from NC State.

Or Augustus Witherspoon, who was the first African American professor at NC State.

Katharine Stinson was the first woman to graduate from NC State’s School of Engineering.

It’s not rocket science: UNC System leaders make the case for increased funding

“What I will ask of you is this — never underestimate any student here,” Koch told the faculty. “Validate their dreams and hold them accountable to see their unfinished stories through. Guide them through the good chapters and the bad.”

Koch said her 328 days in orbit and nearly 700,000 miles around the moon did not begin at a launch pad. They began on Stinson Drive at NC State University.

“It’s not the record for miles you travel away that really matters. It’s the impact you make right here at home.”