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NC State Grad Sets Record For Longest Space Flight By A Woman

U.S. astronaut Christina Koch, member of the main crew of the expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), speaks with her relatives through a safety glass prior to the launch of Soyuz MS-12 space ship at the Russian leased Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Thursday, March 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky, Pool)

A graduate of North Carolina State University has set a record for the longest single space flight by a woman. 

NASA officials say that on Saturday Christina Koch broke the 288-day record set by former space station commander Peggy Whitson.

Koch also made history with the first all-female spacewalk last October, when she was joined by fellow astronaut Jessica Meir.

The News and Observer reports Koch received her Bachelor's Degree in electrical engineering and physics from NC State in 2001, followed by a Master's degree in electrical engineering the following year.

Koch has been aboard the International Space Station since March 15 and is expected to return to Earth in February. 

She will approach but not quite break Scott Kelly's record of 340 days in space.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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