Second Lieutenant Katrina Moon

Military service is nothing new to Second Lieutenant Katrina Moon. Her military legacy not only includes her grandparents and parents, but also her husband, an Air Force pilot and her three brothers who currently serve as a Marine F-18 pilot, a P-3 Naval Flight Officer and an Army helicopter student pilot. Her family doesn’t just talk about military service, they live it.

Katrina’s decision to serve came at age 16 after a mountain climbing expedition to the Mt. Everest Base Camp, with a crew dedicated to building a school for the Nepalese children. She got her first taste of a third world country, and witnessed what poverty and civil unrest really means. She came home as a high school student with a new appreciation for the United States, and a commitment to give back to the country that had given her so much. Two years later, she enrolled in the United States Naval Academy, earning a Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering.

After cross commissioning to the Air Force upon graduation, Katrina now works as a propulsion engineer on F-16 engines. She is responsible for the safety, reliability and sustainment of these high performance jet aircrafts. During her Afghanistan deployment, Katrina served as a combat engineer supporting radar facilities. She is currently enrolled in the University of Colorado at Boulder distance learning program, pursuing a Master’s in engineering in bioastronautics in hopes to someday serve her country beyond Earth’s atmosphere as an astronaut for NASA.