American astronaut Christina Koch broke the record for the longest time in space for a woman, with 289 days spent there, NASA announced.
Koch arrived to the International Space Station (ISS) on 15 March and has just broken the record (288 days in space) which was held former female astronaut Peggy Whitson.
NASA congratulated her on Twitter for "reaching new heights".
"It's great for science," Christina Koch told CNN from the station. "We are discovering another aspect of how the human body is affected by microgravity over the long term, and this is really important for our future space flight plan, to the moon and to Mars."
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Most ISS missions last six months but by the time Koch returns to Earth in February, she will have spent 328 days in space, only 12 days less than the record set in 2016 by Scott Kelly for a single trip by an astronaut.
Christina Koch had already made history last October, participating with Jessica Meir in the first outing of the then 100% female International Space Station.
The Brussels Times
