ALMATY: U.S. astronaut Christina Koch is expected to return to Earth on Thursday, having broken the space flight record for female astronauts after spending nearly a year at the International Space Station.
The 41-year-old Michigan research engineer broke the previous record set by a woman for a single spaceflight 289 days, recorded by NASA veteran Peggy Whitson on December 28, 2019.
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By that point, Koch had already made history after becoming one half of the first-ever women’s spacewalk along with NASA colleague Jessica Meir in October.
Koch told reporters on Tuesday that she was going to “miss microgravity” when she addressed questions from reporters ahead of her three-and-a-half-hour journey back to Earth.
“It’s really enjoyable to be in a position where you can bounce back and forth between the ceiling and the floor whenever you want,” she said, laughing as she wrapped her body around the ISS.
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