{"id":12649,"date":"2020-02-13T01:22:11","date_gmt":"2020-02-12T17:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/christina-koch-having-no-problems-re-adapting-to-earth-after-record-space-flight\/"},"modified":"2020-02-13T01:22:11","modified_gmt":"2020-02-12T17:22:11","slug":"christina-koch-having-no-problems-re-adapting-to-earth-after-record-space-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/christina-koch-having-no-problems-re-adapting-to-earth-after-record-space-flight\/","title":{"rendered":"Christina Koch having no problems re-adapting to Earth after record space flight"},"content":{"rendered":"

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION<\/p>\n

\"\"
Astronaut Christina Koch after landing in Kazakhstan on Feb. 6. Credit: NASA\/Bill Ingalls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Astronaut Christina Koch, six days after returning from a record 11-month stay aboard the International Space Station, said Wednesday she\u2019s re-adapting to gravity with no major problems, enjoying family life, an initial trip to the beach, playing with her dog \u201cLBD\u201d and a kitchen packed with chips and salsa, a favorite food in short supply aboard the station.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel great,\u201d she told reporters at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. \u201cI\u2019m really fortunate, a lot of people \u2026 when you\u2019re re-adapting to one G (gravity) on Earth, you might experience some motion sickness and things like that. I\u2019m really fortunate in that I have not experienced that. What I have noticed is that my balance has taken a little while to get used to.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also has experienced a bit of soreness in muscles that she didn\u2019t use as much in weightlessness, including a sore neck for about a day that made her feel \u201clike a two-week old, actually working hard to hold up my own head.\u201d But overall, she added, \u201cit\u2019s been a pretty easy transition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with the physical sensations of living once again on the surface of a planet, pulled down by the unfamiliar tug of gravity, Koch said she marveled at the \u201csensory experiences that define Earth and the things that are here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin the first two minutes of being back on Earth, I saw more people\u2019s faces that I had seen in a year,\u201d she said. \u201cSo that was really exciting, it\u2019s just fun to interact with people again.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there were the chips and salsa. Before leaving the space station, Koch mentioned in an interview that she was particularly looking forward to the crunchy, more spicy snack after a previous crewmate, who ordered a modest supply of salsa, departed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really lucky because I had a couple people provide gifts, so I came home to a kitchen full of chips and salsa, which was really exciting, even some homemade salsa from some of my neighbors. So it was really neat to see that people had kind of honed in on that. The little things in life on Earth that we all take for granted are kind of the special things that I got to come home to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Including her dog, LBD.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe call her LBD, little brown dog, she\u2019s from the Humane Society and she couldn\u2019t be sweeter,\u201d Koch said. \u201cAnd yes, she was very excited, I was very excited, I\u2019m not sure who was more excited! \u2026 You know it\u2019s just a symbol of coming back to the people and places that you love, to see your favorite animal.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n