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US astronaut returns to Earth after longest mission by woman
US astronaut returns to Earth after longest mission by woman
IF SHE WERE A MAN TRUMP WOULD HAVE CONGRATULATED HER
A WEEK LATER HE STILL HAS NOT MENTIONED HER
Record-setting astronaut feels good after near year in space
NASA's new record-setting astronaut said Wednesday that aside from sore muscles and trouble with balance, she's readjusting well to gravity after nearly 11 months in space.
Christina Koch met with reporters in Houston six days after returning to Earth from the International Space Station. Her 328-day mission—which ended last Thursday—was the longest ever by a woman.
Her neck hurt for about a day. "I felt like a 2-week-old who was actually working hard to hold up my own head," she said.
She considers herself lucky she didn't have the sore feet and burning skin suffered four years ago by NASA's all-time endurance champ, Scott Kelly, whose mission lasted 340 days.
Koch returned home to Galveston, Texas, to find a kitchen full of chips and salsa, something she'd craved in orbit, along with the Gulf of Mexico. She hit the beach with her husband, Bob, and their dog, a rescue pup named LBD for Little Brown Dog, just three days after her landing in Kazakhstan.
LBD was excited to see her, and vice versa.
"I'm not sure who was more excited to see the other," Koch said.
Their reunion was recorded. "It's just a symbol of coming back to the people and places that you love, to see your favorite animal," she said.
The 41-year-old Koch is an electrical engineer who also has a physics degree. She flew to the space station last March and was part of the first all-female spacewalk in October. Three astronauts remain at the orbiting lab, including the other half of the all-female spacewalk, NASA's Jessica Meir
NASA astronaut comes home to chips and salsa after record 11 months in space
Marcia Dunn The Associated Press Wednesday, February 12, 2020 
U.S. astronaut Christina Koch reacts shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-13 space capsule about 150 km south-east of the Kazakh town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020. (Sergei Ilnitsky/Pool Photo via AP)
CAPE CANAVERAL, FLA. -- NASA's new record-setting astronaut said Wednesday that aside from sore muscles and trouble with balance, she's readjusting well to gravity after nearly 11 months in space.
Christina Koch met with reporters in Houston six days after returning to Earth from the International Space Station. Her 328-day mission -- which ended last Thursday -- was the longest ever by a woman.
Her neck hurt for about a day. "I felt like a 2-week-old who was actually working hard to hold up my own head," she said.
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She considers herself lucky she didn't have the sore feet and burning skin suffered four years ago by NASA's all-time endurance champ, Scott Kelly, whose mission lasted 340 days.
Koch returned home to Galveston, Texas, to find a kitchen full of chips and salsa, something she'd craved in orbit, along with the Gulf of Mexico. She hit the beach with her husband, Bob, and their dog, a rescue pup named LBD for Little Brown Dog, just three days after her landing in Kazakhstan.
LBD was excited to see her, and vice versa.
"I'm not sure who was more excited to see the other," Koch said.
Their reunion was recorded. "It's just a symbol of coming back to the people and places that you love, to see your favourite animal," she said.
The 41-year-old Koch is an electrical engineer who also has a physics degree. She flew to the space station last March and was part of the first all-female spacewalk in October. Three astronauts remain at the orbiting lab, including the other half of the all-female spacewalk, NASA's Jessica Meir.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Astronaut Christina Koch Returns Home from a Groundbreaking Year in Space
She took six spacewalks, played anti-gravity baseball, and ate pizza on the ISS. Not a bad vacation from Earth.
By Jennifer Leman Feb 6, 2020
NASA/BILL INGALLS
NASA astronaut Christina Koch has returned from a record-breaking 328-day spaceflight.
While aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Koch was part of the first all-female spacewalk and participated in a number of critical research projects.
She launched for the ISS on March 14, 2019.
NASA astronaut Christina Koch and her two space-faring colleagues landed safely on the remote steppes of Kazakhstan this morning.
Koch returned from a record-breaking 328-day space mission—the longest amount of time spent in space by any woman. She launched for the International Space Station (ISS) on March 14, 2019, along with fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin.
While on the ISS, Koch played baseball with her fellow astronauts, ate space pizza (!), and conducted a number of crucial experiments. Crucially, she was part of the team that conducted the first all-female spacewalk. Heck of a résumé.
Koch's 328-day mission is the second longest spaceflight conducted by a U.S. astronaut—Scott Kelly holds that record with 340 days spent in space—but it does break the record for the longest amount of time a woman has spent in orbit. (The record for longest consecutive time spent in space by any person goes to Russian cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who spent almost 438 days aboard the Mir space station in the mid 1990s.)
Groundbreaking Spacewalks
NASA
During her time on the ISS, Koch conducted six spacewalks, including the first all-female spacewalk with astronaut Jessica Meir on October 18, 2019. They repaired a faulty charge-discharge battery unit during their roughly six hour spacewalk.
Last month, Meir and Koch completed a nearly 7.5-hour spacewalk to, again, repair batteries outside the ISS. The spacewalk was briefly hampered by an issue with Koch’s helmet lights, but continued as planned.
Research and Development
NASA
While aboard the ISS, Koch was also responsible for a number of experiments designed to help NASA understand the effects of microgravity on the human body and tiny, tiny proteins. She participated in projects to explore the body's response to weightlessness, radiation, and isolation on long-durations flights, among other things.
Koch played an integral role in the Microgravity Crystals investigation, which aims to freeze proteins associated with tumor growth. Similar projects have been conducted on Earth without success, but conditions in microgravity may prove helpful in combating the growth of cancer-causing proteins.
The astronaut also participated in the Vertebral Strength investigation, which explores the impacts of microgravity on bone and muscle density. Vertebrae and muscles in the spine are particularly susceptible to degradation, which can eventually lead to fractures. Understanding how quickly this happens, and how the body reacts to these stresses, will help NASA
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Like all astronauts who spend a significant amount of time in space, Koch will be subjected to a series of tests now that she’s back on Earth. Understanding the potential health hazards associated with spaceflight will help NASA prepare astronauts for future missions to the Moon and Mars.
NASA's Christina Koch returned to Earth safely on Thursday after shattering the spaceflight record for female astronauts with a stay of almost 11 months aboard the International Space Station.
Koch touched down at 0912 GMT on the Kazakh steppe after 328 days in space, along with Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency.
Koch was shown seated and smiling broadly after being extracted from the Soyuz descent module in the Roscosmos space agency's video footage from the landing site.
"I am so overwhelmed and happy right now," said Koch, who blasted off on March 14 last year.
Parmitano pumped his fists in the air after being lifted into his chair while Skvortsov bit into an apple.
US President Donald Trump congratulated Koch on Twitter.
"Welcome back to Earth, @Astro_Christina, and congratulations on breaking the female record for the longest stay in space! You're inspiring young women and making the USA proud!" he tweeted.
Local Kazakhs on horseback were among those to witness the capsule landing in the snow-covered steppe as support crews gathered around the three astronauts, NASA commentator Rob Navias said.
"I've never seen this," Navias exclaimed, reporting that the men stopped to chat with engineering personnel.
Koch, a 41-year-old Michigan-born engineer, on December 28 beat the previous record for a single spaceflight by a woman of 289 days, set by NASA veteran Peggy Whitson in 2016-17.
Koch called three-time flyer Whitson, now 60, "a heroine of mine" and a "mentor" in the space programme after she surpassed the record.
She spoke of her desire to "inspire the next generation of explorers."
Koch also made history as one half of the first-ever all-woman spacewalk along with NASA counterpart Jessica Meir—her classmate from NASA training—in October.
The spacewalk was initially postponed because the space station did not have two suits of the right size for women, leading to allegations of sexism.
Ahead of the three-and-a-half hour journey back to Earth, Koch told NBC News on Tuesday that she would "miss microgravity".
"It's really fun to be in a place where you can just bounce around between the ceiling and the floor whenever you want," she said, smiling as she twisted her body around the ISS.
Koch will now head to NASA headquarters in Houston, via the Kazakh city of Karaganda and Cologne in Germany, where she will undergo medical testing.
Koch's medical data will be especially valuable to NASA scientists as the agency draws up plans for a long-duration manned mission to Mars.
'Make space for women'
Koch's return comes after an advert for a skincare brand ran during an intermission in the American football Super Bowl with a call to "make space for women".
The advert featured NASA astronaut Nicole Stott and saw the company promise to donate up to $500,000 to the non-profit Women Who Code, which works with young women seeking careers in tech and scientific fields.
The first woman in space was Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova, whose spaceflight in 1963 is still the only solo mission carried out by a woman.
Russia has sent only one woman to the ISS since expeditions began in 2000—Yelena Serova whose mission launched in 2014.
Both Tereshkova and Serova are now lawmakers in the Russian parliament, where they represent the ruling United Russia party.
Unlike Koch, whose ISS stay was extended, Parmitano and Skvortsov were rounding off regular half-year missions.
Parmitano handed over command of the ISS to Roscosmos's Oleg Skripochka on Tuesday.
The 43-year-old Italian posted regular shots of the Earth while aboard, highlighting the plight of the Amazon rainforest and describing the Alps as "like a spinal column, never bending to time".
Four male cosmonauts have spent a year or longer in space as part of a single mission with Russian Valery Polyakov's 437 days the overall record.
Scott Kelly holds the record for a NASA astronaut, posting 340 days at the ISS before he returned home in 2016.
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