The record of the longest space journey by a woman

The American astronaut Christina Koch has returned to Earth after a 328-day mission on the International Space Station (ISS) that has made her the woman who has made the longest space journey. But this is not the only milestone that has marked this trip. Last October Christina Koch and Jessica Meir made the first spacewalk for women only. 

A Soyuz MS-13 has brought back the astronaut along with cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov and the Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency (ESA).

Koch's prolonged mission will allow researchers to study how prolonged space stays affect a woman's body. NASA is preparing new missions to the Moon, under the Artemis program, and also to Mars. According to current estimates, the outward journey will last for months, so studies have begun to evaluate the body's response and psychological cost to astronauts.

Christina Koch returns to Earth after exceeding the record of the longest space journey performed by a woman Meir and Koch, protagonists of the first women's spacewalk alone. "In support of NASA's goal of the upcoming moon landings, Koch has completed 5,248 orbits of the earth and a 139-mile trip, equivalent to approximately 291 round trips to the Moon," the US space agency said in a statement.

So far, only six men have made longer stays than Kosh, although Peggy Whitson is still the woman who has spent the most total time in space, 665 days, on different trips, Javier Salas reports. The record equivalent to Kosh's is Scott Kelly with 340 consecutive days in space. NASA currently has 48 astronauts active, of which 16 are women.

In these 328 days, Koch participated in various investigations carried out at the space station, such as a study of the vertebral force in space, which seeks to define the impact that space flights have on the muscular and bone degradation of the spine and the risk of bone breakage. With this work, NASA hopes to be able to remedy these problems and prevent them with new measures, such as reducing the forces that astronauts are exposed to take off from the ground.

However, of all the experiments of which this astronaut has been part, the US space agency highlights the one that developed on microgravity crystals, which consists of the crystallization of the membrane of a protein linked to tumor growth and survival at Cancer. An investigation with results with which NASA hopes to help in the development of treatments - which use this protein - against this disease and reduce the side effects of these.

Koch's mission began on March 14, 2014, along with NASA astronaut Nick Hage and Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin. During his 11 months in orbit, he has received and fired a dozen companions who have completed shorter missions in the IEE. In total, he has made six spacewalks and has spent 42 hours and 15 minutes outside the space laboratory.

Before leaving, he had left several images with his companions of his "space family" and the unique vision they have of La Tierra from the complex in which more than a dozen countries participate. "What will I miss the most? Both the exquisite beauty of planet Earth, and this wonder that has been created by incredible people," he tweeted.