Christina Koch

For the first time, a woman and an African-American will go to the moon. NASA announced on Monday the names of the four astronauts who will orbit Earth's natural satellite at the end of 2024 after more than 50 years of absence, reported AFP.

NASA's Christina Koch returned to Earth safely Feb. 6 having shattered the spaceflight record for female astronauts after almost a year aboard the International Space Station.

Koch touched down at 0912 GMT on the Kazakh steppe after 328 days in space along with Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency.

U.S. astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir of NASA are set to make history by performing an all-women spacewalk on Oct. 18.