NASA Astronaut Christina Koch Will Make History As She Clocks 288 Days In Space

NASA astronaut Christina Koch is set to make history once again.

On December 28, she will have been in space for 288 days, breaking the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman.

When Koch steps back on Earth in February 2020, she will have spent more than 300 days in space – surpassing former Station Commander Peggy Whitson’s record.

During her stay in aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Koch completed four spacewalks and made headlines with her co-worker and best friend, Jessica Meir, by participating the first all-female spacewalk October 12.

Although 15 women have performed a spacewalk, each time they were accompanied by their male colleagues.

In a more than seven-hour mission outside of the International Space Station, the women successfully completed their goal of fixing a broken power controller that supplemented its solar network.

There are a lot of people who derive motivation from inspiring stories from people who look like them, and I think that it´s an important aspect of the story to tell,’ Koch told a NASA briefing in Houston in October.

She plans to venture back outside twice more in January, again teaming up with Meir, to complete the installation of new solar array batteries for the station’s solar power system.

During her stay in aboard the International Space Station (ISS), Koch (right) completed four spacewalks and made headlines with her co-worker and best friend, Jessica Meir (left), by participating the first all-female spacewalk October 12

When Koch comes back to Earth on February 6, she will have spent just 12 days shy in space as retired astronaut Mark Kelly who stayed on the ISS for a total of 438 days

When Koch comes back to Earth on February 6, she will have spent just 12 days shy in space as retired astronaut Mark Kelly who stayed on the ISS for a total of 438 days.

However, Whitson still holds the all-time US record with 665 days, but was completed over five different flights.

‘It’s a huge honor,’ Koch said early Friday in an interview with ‘CBS This Morning.’

‘Peggy is a heroine of mine who’s also been kind enough to mentor me through the years.’

‘You know … it’s not so much how many days you’re up here, but what you do with each of those days. That reminds me to bring my best every single day.’

Koch holds a master’s in electrical engineering, is a veteran of multiple research tours in Antarctica and Greenland, and helped design instruments at the Goddard Space Flight Center for NASA science probes in orbit around Earth and Jupiter, according to CBS News.

‘It’s a wonderful time for human spaceflight because I think we finally recognize that it’s not worth going unless we go together, that it’s important to not turn away any innovative idea, that everyone has a role and everyone has a place at the table as we move forward,’ Koch said.

Source: dailymail