So how do you go from singing with Ringo Starr on his “Vertical Man” album to managing Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, and becoming the “Astronaut Wrangler” and working with veteran astronauts to run space camps with Como Hotels and Resorts?
That’s the career trajectory of Florida-based Christina Korp, and she’ll tell you that while it was not the plan, “my rock star lifestyle prepared me for life with rock star astronauts.”
In her previous life as a singer-songwriter she toured the world as Christina Rasch, exiting left from her music career to manage media celebrities such as John Tesh. Then, “the universe brought Buzz Aldrin and I together.”
“I knew nothing about space, but Buzz’s people wanted someone to handle his speaking engagements, someone with branding and event skills,” Korp said.
She started working with Aldrin on Jan. 2, 2008. “I wasn’t alive when he walked on the moon, and I thought he was just this quiet old man who had walked on the moon. Turned out he had such a big personality, is such an icon, has this giant vision for humanity.”
Korp worked with Aldrin for 10 years, and the biggest lesson she learned from that time was that there’s always another way, don’t take no for an answer.
“If something wasn’t working, Buzz would always find another way — he persisted,” she said. “It was an eye-opener for me.
Astronaut Nicole Stott conducting art classes with the children participating in space camp. Photo Credit: Matt Porteous
Space with a Purpose
That approach helped when Korp set up Purpose Entertainment to promote space exploration and to highlight women in space.
“With Buzz, I started to meet all these women who didn’t get recognized, and I thought I should do something about that,” she said.
One of those women is Nicole Stott, a veteran of several NASA missions known as the “artistic astronaut” and who is the author of “Back to Earth: What Life in Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet — And Our Mission to Protect It” (Seal Press, 2021). Korp and Stott are behind the nonprofit Space for a Better World foundation, which organizes the space camps at Como Hotels and Resorts.
Since 2022, space camps have been held at several Como resorts as well as at a pop-up event in Singapore.
Last summer, camps were held at the Como Maalifushi (Maldives), Como Point Yamu (Phuket, Thailand) and Como Uma Canggu (Bali), providing firsthand knowledge about space from Stott and Sara Sabry, the world’s second citizen astronaut sent up by Space for Humanity and the first Arab woman in space.
This August, Stott and Korp will return to Como Maalifushi for another space camp.
Doris Goh, chief commercial officer of Como, said, “We got to know of Christina when she organized the 50th anniversary of Apollo 16 [gala] at the London Science Museum [in 2022]. We sponsored the event at the museum with accommodation for the 11 astronauts and started our collaboration in 2021.
“I had the idea of space camps to inspire children and adults and to elevate our guest experience at Como. Christina brought us Nicole Stott, and she has been the best person to work with the kids. Both ladies gave generously of their time to be with us at Como.”
Korp shed more light on the partnership: “When we first spoke to Como about a collaboration, they asked us, how is space relevant to us? And we highlighted the ways they were using space technology in their resorts — the water purifiers developed for purifying in space, the memory foam in their beds — that’s material that NASA uses in seats for astronauts to soften the landing; that material is in everything we use, beds, shoes, neck pillows.
“Our mission is to promote space and sustainability, to highlight the relationship between space and Earth and how space technology benefits life on Earth and could be used effectively for sustainability.”
Korp, left, and Stott at space camp at the Como Maalifushi in the Maldives. They’re holding another camp there in August. Photo Credit: Matt Porteous
Inspiring awe
Korp said the early space camps were aimed initially at children “to encourage them to be active in resorts rather than being on their devices.” But since then, both adults and children have taken part in a range of activities, including designing bottle rockets and creating space art.
“Our aim is to connect the space-curious to the space-serious and drive attention to ways in which space tech is used on Earth — GPS, cellphones — and how from space we can monitor the health of coral reefs, how it can give us data on polar ice caps and sea temperatures, how we can harness the energy of the sun to give us clean energy. This is important, especially if you care about sustainability. How can we use space tech to look after our planet?
“There’s a lot going on in the space world that people don’t know about, and we want to be the bridge.”
Korp recalled the space camp in Bali when Stott emailed one of her astronaut colleagues who was in orbit to take a picture of Bali from space.
“She emailed the picture to Nicole who showed the participants … and when you see that, it changes your perception of our planet,” Korp said. “It’s not just about inspiring kids, but also influencing decision-makers to take better care of our planet.”
New perspectives
Korp, an avid traveler who has visited 57 countries and all seven continents, looks forward to the continuing partnership with Como.
“It’s the first ongoing partnership we have with a travel brand, and we are united in our purpose of promoting space and sustainability,” she said.
Korp said she’s all for the advances being made in space tourism, “especially if it changes humans’ perspective of space.”
“As long as it’s not just about joyrides and for the very wealthy, and it changes perspectives,” she said, which is why she is more supportive of Space Perspective’s balloon flights, “which will give you the view of Earth for a lot longer,” than [the faster rides] of a company like Virgin Galactic.
Speaking to Web in Travel (a website owned by Travel Weekly parent Northstar Travel Group), Edyta Teper of Space Perspective said, “We hope to build a community of space explorers who can benefit our planet and Earth.” (Space Perspective’s flights cost about $125,000 per seat, compared with $450,000 on Virgin Galactic).
Korp confesses she hasn’t had that space travel experience herself, although she has done six zero-gravity rides. Purpose Entertainment organizes private trips on these rides, with profits going to the Space for a Better World foundation.
So far, she has organized four charters in the U.S. and one in France. The $10,000 ticket includes the flight and private dinner with astronauts such as Stott and Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke. The next ride will be on Oct. 13 in Italy, where a French aircraft will offer the first zero-gravity ride in that country.
