UCSD Grad Jessica Meir To Return To Earth From Space Station

SAN DIEGO, CA — NASA astronaut and UC San Diego graduate Jessica Meir is scheduled to return to Earth Thursday evening after 205 days in space.

Meir, along with fellow NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan and cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka, with whom she served aboard the International Space Station, will depart the station at 6:53 p.m. Pacific time with a parachute-assisted landing slated for 10:17 p.m. Pacific time in Kazakhstan, according to a NASA statement.

Meir's spaceflight included her participation in the first three all-woman spacewalks along with fellow NASA astronaut Christina Koch.

NASA says Meir has made 3,280 orbits of Earth and traveled nearly 87 million miles.

Meir tweeted a few photos Wednesday of various locations across Earth, including a view from space of San Diego, focused on UCSD.

She wrote "Yesterday, @Space_Station flew over almost every place I've ever lived, ranging from Canada to France — all within 8 hours. Mother Earth's way of calling me home?"

Full coverage of the station departure will begin at 3 p.m. Pacific time at nasa.gov/nasalive, which will feature coverage of the landing beginning at 9 p.m.

— City News Service