NASA astronaut Christina Koch who set female space record back on Earth

Washington: Astronaut Christina Koch who created a new female record by spending 328 days in space returned to Earth on Thursday after an 11-month stay on the International Space Station (ISS). The Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying the Expedition 61 Flight Engineer Koch, Soyuz Commander Alexander Skvortsov of Roscosmos and Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) reached Kazakhstan safely at 2.42 pm India time. Koch in December set a new record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, eclipsing the record of 288 days set by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson in 2016-17.

Her stay is just 12 days short of all-time US record set by Scott Kelly during his one-year mission in 2015-16. “Having the opportunity to be up here for so long is truly an honour. Peggy is a heroine of mine and has also been kind enough to mentor me through the years, so it is a reminder to give back and to mentor when I get back,” Koch said in December. Koch, who arrived at the space station on March 14, was expected to be on a typical six-month mission. NASA extended her stay, partly in a bid to collect more data about the effects of long-duration spaceflight. (IANS)

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