What a NASA astronaut can teach us about discovery and exploration | Christina Koch & James Manyika

What does it mean to stand on the frontiers of human discovery? In this episode of Dialogues on Technology and Society, James Manyika, Google’s Senior Vice President of Research, Labs, Technology & Society, sits down with record-breaking astronaut, engineer, and scientist Christina Koch.

Christina Koch served as a mission specialist on the Artemis II lunar flyby mission, making history as the first woman to travel beyond low Earth orbit and fly around the Moon. Together, James and Christina discuss frontier science, human-machine partnerships in orbit, and humanity's shared drive to explore the unknown.

01:34 - What drew you to far-off frontiers & extreme science?
06:02 - Was becoming an astronaut always your planned trajectory?
07:34 - What was it like spending 328 days on the ISS?
08:44 - What did the historic all-female spacewalk entail?
11:34 - How does it feel being the first woman beyond low-Earth orbit?
13:17 - How does the view of Earth change from orbit vs. deep space?
16:53 - How did the math of the Artemis hybrid return trajectory work?
21:45 - What are the possibilities of AI and robotics in space?
24:06 - The ultimate questions: are we alone & what advice do you have?

Watch more: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL590L5WQmH8f8ID51T0_9JkWpeL9Dcb-S

Images and b-roll courtesy of NASA.

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