Astronauts Christina Koch, Luca Parmitano and Cosmonaut Alexander Skvortsov Return Home from Space

Three space travelers including record-setting astronaut Christina Koch return home from the International Space Station.

Christina Koch wrapped up a 328-day extended mission on her first spaceflight, having spent more time in space on a single mission than any other woman. Koch, along with station Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency), and Soyuz commander Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency Roscosmos departed the station in a Soyuz spacecraft that made a parachute-assisted landing at 4:12 a.m. EST southeast of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan.

Koch's extended mission will provide researchers the opportunity to observe effects of long-duration spaceflight on a woman, as we prepare for Artemis missions to the Moon and human exploration of Mars.