American astronaut Christina Koch landed back on Earth on Thursday, marking the end of the longest space mission ever completed by a female astronaut.
The Soyuz MS-13 capsule touched down on the Kazakh desert steppe at 4:12 am ET carrying Koch, 41, European astronaut Luca Parmitano and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov.
Koch spent 328 days on the International Space Station (ISS), breaking a previous spaceflight record for female astronauts held by NASA’s Peggy Whitson. Whitson had spent 289 days aboard the ISS.
(front L-R) NASA astronaut Christina Koch, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano sit in chairs shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-13 space capsule in a remote area southeast of Zhezkazgan in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan, 06 February 2020. EPA-EFE/SERGEI ILNITSKY / POOL
The 41-year-old engineer from Michigan also made space history last October when she and fellow astronaut Jessica Meir completed the first-ever all-woman spacewalk.
Koch boarded the space station last March. Her mission, originally scheduled for six months, was extended to nearly a year once she was aboard.
A handout photo made available by NASA the Soyuz MS-13 spacecraft landing with Expedition 61 crew members Christina Koch of NASA, Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency), in a remote area near the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, 06 February 2020. EPA-EFE/NASA/BILL INGALLS HANDOUT
NASA had said that Koch’s long stay would provide valuable information about the long-term effects of space travel on the female body. The US space agency has plans in the works to build a permanent station on the surface of the moon within the next ten years.
