US Astronaut Christina Koch Returns To Earth After Record-Breaking 328-Day Space Mission

US Astronaut Christina Koch Returns To Earth After Record-Breaking 328-Day Space Mission

• Christina Koch, US-astronaut who made record for the longest continuous spaceflight ever undertaken by a female astronaut, returned from the International Space Station (ISS) to Earth on 6th February 2020.
• Koch was accompanied by European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Luca Parmitano and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov on the way to Earth.
• The three boarded a Soyuz capsule docked at the ISS at around 12:50 AM EST, and had a safe landing at around 4:12 AM EST (3:12 PM local time) in Kazakhstan.
• Koch joined NASA’s astronaut corps in 2013. She blasted off on March 2019 to ISS.
• The 41-year-old Michigan-born engineer, Koch has spent 328 consecutive days in space, which is the highest single spaceflight by a woman.
• In December 2019, she beat the previous record for a single spaceflight by a woman of 289 days, set by NASA veteran Peggy Whitson in 2016-17.
• In October 2019, Koch also made history to be part of the first-ever all-woman spacewalk along with NASA counterpart Jessica Meir, her classmate from NASA training..