Female astronaut returns after 328 days in space
After 328 days in space the American astronaut Christina Koch landed safely in Kazakhstan yesterday, breaking the record for the longest space flight by a woman.
She gave a huge grin and a thumbs-up as she was helped out of the capsule.
Koch, 41, who returned to earth with two of her International Space Station (ISS) crewmates, surpassed the record of 289 days held by her fellow American Peggy Whitson. She was only 12 days short of the overall US record set by Scott Kelly in 2015-2016.
The Soyuz capsule carrying Koch, along with the station commander Luca Parmitano, of the European Space Agency, and the cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov, touched down shortly after 3pm southeast of Jezkazga (formerly Dzhezkazgan), in the centre of the country. Colonel Parmitano, 43, and Colonel Skvortsov, 53, spent 201 days in space.
It was Koch’s first space flight. The data from her stay will help Nasa to assess the impact of lengthy missions on a woman, with the agency already planning a return to the moon and preparing for human exploration of Mars.
Koch was placed in a chair for a quick post-flight check alongside her crewmates. Officials said that they were all in good condition.
Koch grew up in Jacksonville, North Carolina, and lives in Galveston, Texas, with her husband, Bob. She holds degrees in physics and mathematics and a master’s in electrical engineering. Before joining Nasa’s astronaut programme in 2013 she spent three and a half years with the US Arctic and Antarctic research programmes, including a winter at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole station.
Koch said last month that taking part in the first all-female spacewalk on October 18 was the highlight of her mission.
She and her fellow Nasa astronaut Jessica Meir hoped that it ‘‘could serve as an inspiration for future space explorers’’.
‘‘No-one told me I had a crazy dream,’’ she told The News & Observer in Raleigh from the ISS recently, regarding her childhood ambition to become an astronaut. ‘‘No-one told me I couldn’t do it. And so that dream kept right on growing and growing.’’
After preliminary medical evaluations the crew were scheduled to be flown by Russian helicopters to the city of Karaganda, 210km southeast of the capital NurSultan.
Koch and Colonel Parmitano will then board a Nasa aircraft for Cologne, where Parmitano will be greeted by European space officials before Koch boards a flight home.
‘‘I’m just so overwhelmed and happy right now,’’ Koch said as she waited to be carried into a medical tent.
Skvortsov was scheduled to be flown to the Star City cosmonaut training centre near Moscow.
The Russian Valeri Polyakov holds the record for the longest continuous stay in space: 437 days and 18 hours.
Lengthy spells are known to cause thickening of the carotid artery and retina and cognitive impairment in men. – The Times