NASA astronaut Christina Koch returned to Earth after 328 days in space, setting a record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman.
Koch, 41, landed early Thursday morning in Kazakhstan, breaking the previous record set in 2017 by Peggy Whitson, who spent 288 days in space on a single mission. Whitson still holds the record for total days spent in space by a NASA astronaut, at 665.
During her time on the International Space Station, Koch participated in six spacewalks, including the first performed solely by women in October. Koch and Jessica Meir performed the first all-female spacewalk when they repaired a battery charger outside the space station.
Koch, who joined the astronaut corps in 2013, returned to Earth with Alexander Skvortsov of Russia and Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency. Before she returned, she said she was looking forward to experiencing several aspects of nature again, as well as eating with forks and knives.
“Oh, how I miss the wind on my face, the feeling of raindrops, sand on my feet and the sound of surf crashing on Galveston Beach,” she said.
“On orbit, we eat with a spoon,” she said. “One spoon — 328 days with the same spoon.”
