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A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 30 January 2020
Astronaut craves salsa and surf after record 11 months aloft

By MARCIA DUNN 2016, has given her ad-
AP Aerospace Writer vance notice of what to
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. expect. "It's a great re-
(AP) — After nearly 11 minder to keep mentor-
months in orbit, the astro- ing," Koch said. When her
naut holding the record for record is broken, "I hope to
the longest spaceflight by mentor that person just as
a woman can't wait to dig I've been mentored."
into some salsa and chips, Koch said it was crucial
and swim and surf in the staying connected to loved
Gulf of Mexico. ones through phone calls
NASA astronaut Christina and video conferences.
Koch told The Associated She watched as her nieces
Press on Tuesday — her and nephews opened their
319th consecutive day in Christmas presents. But
space — that taking part it's also special celebrat-
in the first all-female space- ing holidays in space, she
walk was the highlight of noted, which "kind of takes
her mission. She's been liv- any sting off of missing your
ing on the International family."
Space Station since March Koch grew up in Jackson-
and returns to Earth on ville, North Carolina, and
Feb. 6, landing in Kazakh- now lives near the Gulf of
stan with two colleagues In this Thursday, March 14, 2019 file photo, U.S. astronaut Christina Koch, member of the main crew Mexico in Galveston, Texas,
of the expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), speaks with her relatives through a safety
aboard a Russian capsule. glass prior the launch of Soyuz MS-12 space ship at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, with her husband, Bob. She
Koch said she and fellow Kazakhstan. said she can't wait for their
NASA astronaut Jessica Associated Press next wedding anniversary,
Meir appreciated that the Christmas at home and his
Oct. 18 spacewalk "could Kelly's flight by 12 days. her most-missed food list? the ability to put things birthday.
serve as an inspiration for She's already set a re- Crunchy food like chips are down and not have them Her 41st birthday is Wednes-
future space explorers." cord for the longest single banned on the space sta- float away. day. How does she plan to
"We both drew a lot of in- spaceflight by a woman. tion because the crumbs She's gotten used to us- celebrate?
spiration from seeing peo- She took time out for a pair could float away and ing Velcro and tape to Playing Scrabble with her
ple that were reflections of of news interviews Tuesday, clog equipment. "I haven't make things stay put, "so I U.S., Italian and Russian
ourselves as we were grow- the 34th anniversary of the had chips in about 10 1/2 hope that when I go back crew mates, as challenging
ing up and developing our space shuttle Challenger months," she explained, to Earth, I don't acciden- as that might be in weight-
dreams to become astro- accident that claimed all "but I have had a fresh ap- tally drop things, especially lessness. She packed a
nauts," Koch said from the seven lives on board. ple" thanks to regular car- when I'm handing them to travel version of the game
space station. "So to recog- She said she loves her go deliveries. people." Kelly, whose mis- and has been too busy to
nize that maybe we could work — she conducted six Another thing she misses: sion spanned 2015 and enjoy it.q
pay that forward and serve spacewalks and tended to
the same for those that are science experiments — but NASA shutting down space telescope,
up and coming was just she also misses her friends
such a highlight." and family. infrared eyes to cosmos
Koch's astronaut class of "If they could visit here, I
2013 was split equally be- would continue staying
tween women and men, for a very long time," said By MARCIA DUNN than 36 million raw images ing the sun. Spitzer will con-
but NASA's astronaut corps Koch, a first-time space CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. as part of the $1.4 billion tinue to fall even farther be-
as a whole is male domi- flier. "For their sake, I think (AP) — NASA is pulling the mission. hind Earth, posing no threat
nated. Right now, four men that it's probably time to plug on one of its great An estimated 4,000 sci- to another spacecraft or
and two women are living head home." observatories -- the Spitzer entists around the world anything else, officials said.
at the space station. Her biggest surprise is how Space Telescope -- after 16 took part in the observa- “Although it would be great
"Diversity is important, and easily and quickly she years of scanning the uni- tions and published nearly to be able to operate all
I think it is something worth adapted both mentally verse with infrared eyes. 9,000 studies, according to of our telescopes forever,
fighting for," said Koch, an and physically to weight- The end comes Thursday NASA. this is not possible,” NASA’s
electrical engineer who lessness. when ground controllers “You have to be proud ... astrophysics director Paul
also has a physics degree. "I don't even really realize put the aging spacecraft when you look back and Hertz said in an email.
Koch's 328-day mission will that I'm floating any more," into permanent hiberna- say, ‘Look at the team NASA originally planned
be the second-longest by she said. tion. that’s operating Spitzer, to decommission Spitzer a
an American, trailing Scott Why do chips and salsa top For years, Spitzer peered look at the team that’s few years ago, but put off
through dusty clouds at contributing to having all of its demise as the James
untold stars and galaxies, this great science,’ ” said Webb Space Telescope,
uncovered a huge, nearly project manager Joseph a vastly more elaborate
invisible ring around Saturn, Hunt. infrared observatory, kept
and helped discover seven Designed to last just 2.5 getting delayed.
Earth-size planets around a years to five years, the tele- Webb’s launch is now off
nearby star. scope got increasingly dif- until at least early next
Spitzer’s last observation ficult to operate as it drifted year. This week, the Gov-
was expected Wednes- farther behind Earth, NASA ernment Accountability Of-
day. Altogether, Spitzer ob- said. It currently trails Earth fice warned of further de-
served 800,000 celestial tar- by 165 million miles (265 mil- lays because of technical
gets and churned out more lion kilometers), while orbit- challenges.q