NASA Astronaut Christina Koch Breaks World Record For Longest Stay In Space By A Woman
NASA astronaut Christine Koch has made history. She broke the record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman as of December 28th, breaking the previous record held by Peggy Whitson who spent 288 days in space from 2016-2017. By the time Koch returns to earth in February 2020, she would've spent a total of 328 days in orbit around the earth.
Space is the final frontier, and it's incredibly hard. As humanity begins to seriously explore the rest of our solar system, a lot of pioneering work is being done aboard the International Space Station which hovers 400 km above the earth's surface.
And NASA astronaut Christina Koch has just made history aboard the space station, breaking the record for the longest continuous spaceflight by a woman. It's an important landmark, one that will inspire a lot of people -- especially girls and women -- around the world.
She set the new world record for the longest single spaceflight in zero gravity by a woman as of December 28th, breaking the previous record held by fellow NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson who spent 288 days in space from 2016-2017.
This isn't the first record Christina Koch has broken or set, as she along with astronaut Jessica Meir successfully completed the first ever all-female spacewalk outside the International Space Station in October earlier this year. The walk made history as in 50-years of walking in space, women stepped out in space without any male crewmate for the very first time to fix a broken part of the power network on the ISS.
By the time NASA astronaut Christina Koch returns to earth in February 2020, she is expected to have spent a total of 328 days in orbit around the earth. This still won't be the longest continuous time spent by a human in space, as that record belongs to Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov who spent just over 437 days aboard Russia's Mir station. The record for longest ever continuous time spent in space by a NASA astronaut belongs to Scott Kelly, who stayed in space for 340 days between 2015 and 2016.
But we shouldn't discount the work and effort by Christina Koch, as her time spent in space will provide vital health clues for NASA to dig into, and help them unlock the mysteries of how extended spaceflight affects the female body.
If NASA is successful to go back to the moon with Artemis Mission and colonize Mars in the near future, it will be crucial for them to ferry astronauts back and forth across the vast empty void of space, and make sure the journey doesn't affect their health. That's when the sacrifice made by the likes of Christina Koch and others like her will not be forgotten.