The mother of a U.S. astronaut who has been in space since October was killed when a freight train hit her car at a railroad crossing near Chicago, police said.

Daniel Tani's 90-year-old mother, Rose, died on Wednesday as her son was aloft in the International Space Station. He was told of her death but is not scheduled to return to Earth until next month.

A NASA spokeswoman said there was no impact on space station activities and Tani was working on a science experiment on Thursday, as scheduled.

Police in the town of Lombard, Illinois, west of Chicago, said Tani's mother was behind a school bus stopped at a crossing when the gate went down. She drove around the bus onto the tracks and was struck, they said.

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