Christina Koch became the first woman to travel around the moon. Julie Escobar shares what Koch’s story means to all the women in real estate who think they’ve missed the window.
Have you seen the photo? A silhouette pressed against the spaceship window, the entire Earth floating in the blackness behind her. Clouds swirling over the sea. The edges of the continents are curved. The whole world – small enough to fit inside a porthole.
That’s Christina Koch. NASA astronaut. engineer. Record breaking. On April 6, 2026, the first woman in human history to travel around the moon was born. She is 47 years old. She is at home now.
“It’s great to hear from Earth again.” — Christina Koch, Waking up from 40 Minutes of Radio Silence on the Far Side of the Moon, April 6, 2026
Those were the words Ms. Koch spoke as her voice crackled across 230,000 miles of space after the Orion spacecraft circled the far side of the moon. Stable. warm. Don’t worry. herself.
A record that no one talks about
The moon mission is just the latest chapter.
Prior to this, she spent 328 consecutive days on the International Space Station. This is the longest single spaceflight by a woman in history.
Before that, she conducted the first all-female spacewalk with Jessica Meir in October 2019, but the first spacewalk was canceled because NASA didn’t have a spacesuit that fit her size. She waited 6 months and went anyway.
Before that, he spent winters at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in temperatures as low as -111 degrees Fahrenheit, serving as a firefighter and on a glacier search and rescue team. In the dark. For many months.
She was never found. She was built by years of unglamorous, icy, invisible, essential work.
For women in real estate — yes, I’m talking to you.
How many times have I been told that the timing is not right? Were you too new, too established and too late in the real estate industry? Did you miss the boom or don’t have a network?
Koch was rejected from NASA’s astronaut program before being accepted. She went to Antarctica. Then the North Pole. Then ISS. Then the moon.
It’s never too late to launch. There is only the next step.
Women now make up 62 percent of the National Association of Realtors’ membership, a remarkable change for an organization founded by and for men in 1908. According to AceableAgent’s 2024 survey of more than 600 female agents, 89 percent reported feeling fulfilled in their careers, 87 percent were on track to achieve their financial goals, and 84 percent said real estate helped them achieve financial goals they didn’t think possible in their previous careers.
51% said real estate was not their first career. 74% joined after their child was born.
The majority of women in this industry didn’t start here. They, like Koch, arrived after doing something else first. First after surviving something. And they made something anyway.
Toilet Story (Trust me, this is a story about leadership)
On the third day of the mission, Koch radioed to mission control to report a burning smell coming from the space toilet. She was in lunar orbit. She had just made history. She was also troubleshooting the bathroom.
This is what mastery actually looks like. It’s not a highlight reel, it’s the ability to be completely historic and completely professional at the same time. Processing ordinary events with grace and drama while maintaining the magnitude of the moment.
In the real estate industry, you can close a career deal and still have to deal with one hell of an inspection report that afternoon. Ms. Koch submitted a report. Mission Control investigated. The mission continued.
Now it’s your turn
Ms. Koch didn’t wait for someone to give her a mission. She developed herself into the person her mission required. I took one cold, humble step at a time.
There’s also a window. Here’s how to use it:
Send the prospecting email you spent three weeks crafting. The market won’t wait. Neither should you. Please call the expired list. The seller is frustrated, but not unreachable. Be the agent who offers solutions when others won’t. Increase professional pay. If you haven’t reviewed your charges in two years, you’re leaving money and value on the table at every closing. Chase down lists that seem too big. Luxury property. commercial transactions. A seller with complicated circumstances. Koch applied to NASA before he was ready, but was rejected and went to Antarctica to recover. What is your South Pole? Join the room. Mastermind. board. It’s a committee. coaching community. Securities firm leadership conference. Come in and tell your story. Koch spent 328 days in space, spent a winter in Antarctica, and did not hide the failure of his first application. She let the whole picture of who she was speak louder than any qualification. You should too.
84% of women in real estate have achieved financial goals that they thought were impossible in their previous careers. It’s not a statistic. It’s a room full of women who just showed up and won.
The Earth looked small when seen from the moon. Your fears also seem to be much smaller than they were last week.
Splashdown was on Friday. What are you launching?
Additional Resources: Artemis II Lunar Flyby Photo Gallery — Free and Public Domain, Used with Permission Women in STEM — National Women’s History Museum
Julie Escobar is the president of the Darryl Davis Seminars. Connect with her on Instagram and LinkedIn.
