Thumbs up as female space record is set

NASA astronaut Christina Koch, who has spent nearly 11 months in orbit on the longest spaceflight by a woman, landed safely in Kazakhstan yesterday along with two of her International Space Station crewmates.

The Soyuz capsule carrying Koch, along with station commander Luca Parmitano, of the European Space Agency, and Alexander Skvortsov, from Russian space agency Roscosmos, touched down south-east of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, at 3.12pm local time (9.12am GMT).

Koch wrapped up a 328-day mission on her first flight into space, providing researchers with the opportunity to observe the effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman. The study is important since Nasa plans to return to the Moon under the Artemis programme and prepare for the human exploration of Mars.

Koch smiled and gave a thumbs up as support crew helped her get out of the capsule and placed her in a chair for a quick post-flight check-up alongside her crewmates.

Russian space officials said they were in good shape.

Koch, who lives near the Gulf of Mexico in Galveston, Texas, with her husband Bob, said last month that taking part in the first allfemale spacewalk was the highlight of her mission. She said she and fellow Nasa astronaut Jessica Meir appreciated that the October 18 spacewalk “could serve as an inspiration for future space explorers”.

After medical evaluations, the crew will be flown by helicopters to the city of Karaganda in Kazakhstan. Koch and Parmitano will then board a plane bound for Cologne, before Koch proceeds home. Skvortsov will be flown to the Star City Cosmonaut Training Centre outside Moscow.