(Editor's note: These conversations originally published May 6, 2024.)

We're lifting off today with Astronaut Christina Koch. She grew up here, graduated from the North Carolina School of Science and Math, then NC State, and today works for NASA. Christina Koch has spent more than 300 days at the International Space Station and is readying for a lunar mission. Koch talks training, outer space food, and common questions she gets.

Then, after talking with a NASA astronaut, we at Due South wanted to learn more about research that’s happening here on Earth. Rachel Smith, an astrophysicist at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science, studies star and planet formation. We talk with her about that, and space out on some of humankind's biggest questions, like – are we alone in the universe?

Guests

Christina Koch, NASA Astronaut

Rachel Smith, PhD, Astronomer at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, and Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Appalachian State University

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