Is Now The Woman To Have Spent The Most Time In Space On A Single Flight

NASA Astronaut Christina Koch set a record for the longest continuous single spaceflight by a woman on December 28, according to NASA. On that date, Koch passed the record of former Station Commander Peggy Whitson, who spent 288 days in space. By the time she arrives back on Earth in February 2020, she will have spent 328 days in space.

Earlier in the mission, Koch made history through her participation in the first all-female spacewalk.

Whitson took to Twitter to congratulate Koch on her achievement. "Records are made to be broken," she said in a tweet. In a video posted by NASA Saturday, Whitson quipped "We all know gravity sucks."

Koch was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 2013, and completed astronaut candidate training in July 2015.  Koch graduated from North Carolina State University with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Physics and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering. Her Astronaut Candidate Training included scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in International Space Station systems, spacewalks, robotics, physiological training, T-38 flight training, and water and wilderness survival training.  She was assigned to her first space flight, a long duration mission on the International Space Station, in 2018.

Koch's career began as an Electrical Engineer at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics, where she contributed to scientific instruments on several NASA missions studying cosmology and astrophysics.  Koch then became a Research Associate in the United States Antarctic Program from 2004 to 2007.  This included a year long stay with a winter-over at the Admunsen-Scott South Pole Station and a season at Palmer Station.  While in this role, she served as a member of the Firefighting Teams and Ocean and Glacier Search and Rescue Teams.  From 2007 to 2009, Koch returned to space science instrument development as an Electrical Engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory’s Space Department.  She contributed to instruments studying radiation particles for NASA missions, including Juno and the Van Allen Probes. In 2010, Koch returned to remote scientific field work with tours including Palmer Station in Antarctica and multiple winter seasons at Summit Station in Greenland.  In 2012, Koch continued work at remote scientific bases, now with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  She served as a Field Engineer at NOAA’s Global Monitoring Division Baseline Observatory in Barrow Alaska, and then as Station Chief of the American Samoa Observatory.  Throughout her career, she participated in many opportunities for instructing, volunteer tutoring and educational outreach.

She arrived at the station on March 14 of last year for a planned six-month stay. In April, she was notified that her mission was being extended to further the study of long-term spaceflight on human astronauts.

(Image provided by NASA)

FMI: www.nasa.gov