Soyuz MS-12 crew (L-R): Nick Hague, Aleksey Ovchinin, Christina Koch
Mission patch
Soyuz MS-12, launched March 14, 2019, carried the crew of Expedition 59 to the International Space Station. Its crew consisted of Commander Aleksey Ovhinin, Nick Hague and Christina Koch.
Ovchinin and Hague retunred to Earth in October 2019 with space participant Hazza Al Mansouri of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) of the United Arab Emirates.
Christina Koch returned to Earth in February 2020 after a record-breaking stay in space.
Expedition 61 crew (L-R): Andrew Morgan, Aleksandr Skvortsov, Luca Parmitano, Oleg Skripochka, Jessica Meir and Christina Koch
Mission patch
The members of Expedition 61 - Commander Luca Parmitano, Christina Koch and Aleksandr Skvortsov - returned to Earth from the International Space Station this morning aboard I. Koch went into space way back in March 2019 aboard Soyuz MS-12. She has set the world record for longest stay in space by a woman at 328 days. She has the second-longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut and 7th on the list of cumulative time in space for American astronauts.
Skvortsov and Parmitano arrived at the ISS in July 2019 with Andrew Morgan aboard Soyuz MS-13 and have completed a 201-day stay in space. With this mission, Parmitano has logged 367 days in space, longer than any other ESA astronaut.
Skvortsov has completed his third mission and has logged 546 days in space, putting him 15th on the list of all-time spaceflight endurance tests.
Koch performed 6 EVAs during her stay and Parmitano conducted 4.
Oleg Skripochka, Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan remain onboard the ISS and have transferred over to Expedition 62.
Christina Koch, born January 29, 1979 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, recently set the world record on December 28, 2019 for longest continuous time in space by a woman. And she's still counting.
This is her first time in space. She launched in Soyuz MS-12 in March 2019 to the International Space Station as part of Expedition 59. Since then, she has participated in Expedition 60 and is currently part of Expedition 61. She conducted the first all-female spacewalk with fellow astronaut Jessica Meir in October 2019.
Back in October, Christina Koch made history by participating in the first all-female spacewalk with fellow astronaut Jessica Meir. She made history again today by setting the record for the longest space flight by a woman for 289 days, breaking the record set earlier by Peggy Whitson.
It isn't usual to wish someone happy birthday while they are in space at the time, but today is Nick Hague's birthday. He is currently aboard the International Space Station as part of Expedition 59. Hague was born September 24, 1975 in Belleville, Kansas. He graduated from the US Air Force Academy. After he joined the Air Force, he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in May 1998 and promoted to Colonel in 2016,
Hague's first trip into space aboard Soyuz MS-10 was aborted shortly after take-off. He and fellow astronaut Aleksey Ovchinin escaped safely.
Hague's second trip into space was aboard Soyuz MS-12, which was successfully launched March 2019, with Ovchinin and Christina Koch to the ISS. They are scheduled to return to Earth in October 2019.
