From the Velodrome to Space: US Track Champion Christina Birch Named NASA Mission Pilot

Most retired cyclists settle for a new challenge like taking on gravel or becoming a TV commentator.

Christina Birch is heading for orbit.

The former U.S. national team track cyclist and 11-time national champion has been named pilot of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-14 mission to the International Space Station, with launch scheduled spring 2027.

Birch, 39, will make her first spaceflight alongside commander Kayla Barron, Japan’s Makoto Suwa, and Russian cosmonaut Arutyun Kiviryan, NASA officials confirmed.

Their assignment involves “scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to help prepare humans for future exploration missions to the moon and Mars.”

That is quite a career move for someone whose previous office job called for steep banking, fixed gears, and an aerodynamic tuck on the boards.

11 national titles, then astronaut school

Before swapping skinsuits for spacesuits, Birch won three World Cup medals and two Pan American Games gold medals across the team pursuit and Madison with Team USA.

She also made the U.S. Olympic long team for the 2021 Tokyo Games for the team pursuit squad that later won the bronze medal.

And cycling was already something of a career change for this overachiever.

Birch earned degrees in mathematics and biochemistry and molecular biophysics at the University of Arizona, then a doctorate in biological engineering at MIT.

She taught bioengineering before leaving to pursue elite track racing. She started racing on the track to cross-train for her initial passion in cyclocross.

And that was all before NASA selected her as an astronaut candidate in 2021.

A flat tire sounds like the easy part

In an Instagram post reflecting on astronaut training, Birch made some connections between cycling and her upcoming space adventure.

In cycling, she explained the sport generally rewards doing everything faster, while spaceflight means preparing to succeed when things go horribly wrong.

Her early training included survival camp in the woods of Alabama, underwater sessions to simulate space walks, and learning to fly jets, and she still found time to race the Leadville Trail 100 MTB race and run a marathon.

“Our goal, then, is to cross the finish line together, no matter the method or speed,” she wrote. “So we practice … and practice … and practice our contingency plans until we are sure that, even on our average days, we succeed in our mission.”

She recently served as a capsule communicator to crews during the Artemis II mission in 2026 in the first space mission to the moon since the 1970s.

Her favorite movie? Interstellar, of course.

Birch’s bike handling skills just might come in handy in orbit.