Mother of astronaut on space station dies

? A 90-year-old woman whose son, Daniel M. Tani, is on the International Space Station died Wednesday when the car in which she was traveling was struck by a train in the western Chicago suburb of Lombard, Ill., police said.

Rose Tani was traveling north on Elizabeth Street around 3 p.m. when she passed a downed crossing gate and was struck by a westbound Union Pacific train, according to Lombard police. The train pushed the car along the tracks before it came to rest behind a school.

She was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, police said.

Daniel Tani, a mission specialist and flight engineer, is part of Expedition 16 at the International Space Station. NASA’s next shuttle mission, which will bring Tani back to Earth after six weeks on the ISS, is scheduled for no earlier than Jan. 8.

A NASA flight surgeon has notified Daniel Tani, 46, of his mother’s death, said Lombard Police Lt. Jim Glennon.