What’s Happening On The International Space Station?

By Amanda Magnus,

Frank Stasio

Published August 29, 2019 at 12:03 PM EDT

Christina Koch is in between two astronauts in space suits.

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NASA astronaut Christina Koch poses for a portrait with Andrew Morgan and Nick Hague in their U.S. spacesuits.

NASA

Astronaut Christina Koch holds up a tube on the International Space Station.

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Expedition Flight Engineer Christina Koch conducts research operations for a protein crystal growth experiment on the International Space Station.

NASA

Christina Koch holds complicated equipment on the ISS.

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Expedition 60 Flight Engineer Christina Koch conducts science operations for the BioFabrication Facility experiment on the ISS.

NASA

A North Carolinian is slated to set a new record on the International Space Station.

Astronaut Christina Koch is in the midst of 328 day mission, which if completed, will be the longest single spaceflight by a woman.The ISS is a giant, multinational research facility that has been manned and in orbit continuously since November of 2000. It travels at a speed of five miles per second and orbits the Earth every 90 minutes.

Host Frank Stasio talks about the research being conducted on the space station with Katie Mack, an astrophysicist and an assistant professor in the department of physics at North Carolina State University. Mack also talks about how the human understanding of the universe has evolved since the ISS was put into orbit.

She will be giving a keynote address “From the Lab to the Universe: Studying Physics to Explore the Cosmos” this Friday, Aug. 30 in the State Ballroom on the North Carolina State University campus in Raleigh. The event will also feature a conversation with Christina Koch live streamed from space.