Record-Setting Astronaut Christina Koch Returns Home, Shares Video Of Reunion With Dog After Nearly A Year In Space
GALVESTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - NASA astronaut Christina Koch posted video on Twitter of her reunion with her dog after spending 11 months in space.
"Not sure who was more excited," Koch said in the tweet. "Glad she remembers me after a year!"
The dog is a rescue named LBD for Little Brown Dog.
"It's just a symbol of coming back to the people and places that you love, to see your favorite animal," she said.
Not sure who was more excited. Glad she remembers me after a year! pic.twitter.com/sScVXHMHJn
— Christina H Koch (@Astro_Christina) February 13, 2020
Koch's 328-day mission — which ended last Thursday — was the longest ever by a woman.
Her neck hurt for about a day. "I felt like a 2-week-old who was actually working hard to hold up my own head," she said.
She considers herself lucky she didn't have the sore feet and burning skin suffered four years ago by NASA's all-time endurance champ, Scott Kelly, whose mission lasted 340 days.
Koch returned home to Galveston to find a kitchen full of chips and salsa, something she'd craved in orbit, along with the Gulf of Mexico.
She hit the beach with her husband, Bob, and LBD just three days after her landing in Kazakhstan.
The 41-year-old Koch is an electrical engineer who also has a physics degree.
She flew to the space station last March and was part of the first all-female spacewalk in October.
Three astronauts remain at the orbiting lab, including the other half of the all-female spacewalk, NASA's Jessica Meir.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)