NASA astronaut Christina Koch ended 2019 with a bang—by breaking the record for longest single spaceflight by a woman.
Dec. 28, 2019 marked the 289th day Koch spent living and working on the International Space Station, eclipsing the previous consecutive days record of 288 held by NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson. The now-retired Whitson still holds the record for the most cumulative time spent in space by a U.S. astronaut, totaling 665 days over the course of several missions.
Two days after breaking her record, Koch paid tribute to Whitson, tweeting a photo of them together five years ago, calling her a mentor.
This isn’t the first time in the record books for Koch, though. In October 2019, Koch and fellow NASA astronaut Jessica Meir stepped off the ISS to fix a broken part of the power tower. That spacewalk was the first all-female spacewalk in history.
Koch arrived at the space station on March 14, 2019, and is scheduled to remain in orbit until February of this year. By time she departs the ISS, Koch will have likely spent 328 consecutive days in space, just shy of famed astronaut Scott Kelly’s record for the longest single spaceflight by a NASA astronaut at 340 days. Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka has spent more time in space than any human, logging nearly 900 days over five missions.
When NASA extended Koch’s mission in April 2019, the space agency said it was to help scientists gather additional data about the effects of long-duration human spaceflight beyond those of the normal six-month station expedition.
“Astronauts demonstrate amazing resilience and adaptability in response to long duration spaceflight exposure,” Jennifer Fogarty, chief scientist of the Human Research Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, said at the time. “This will enable successful exploration missions with healthy, performance-ready astronauts. NASA is looking to build on what we have learned with additional astronauts in space for more than 250 days. [Koch’s] extended mission will provide additional data for NASA’s Human Research Program and continue to support future missions to the Moon and Mars.”
Photo: NASA astronaut Christina Koch performs science operations in the Microgravity Science Glovebox for the Ring Sheared Drop human health and advanced materials investigation. Credit: NASA