Astronaut has Mars on her mind

Astronaut Peggy Whitson yesterday broke the US record for most time in space and talked up Mars during a congratulatory call from President Donald Trump.

The International Space Station’s commander surpassed the record of 534 days, two hours and 48 minutes for most accumulated time in space by an American.

“This is a very special day in the glorious history of American spaceflight,” Trump said.

Whitson said it’s “a huge honour” to break such a record. “It’s an exciting time” as Nasa prepares for human expeditions to Mars in the 2030s, included in new legislation signed by Trump last month. She called the space station “a key bridge” between living on Earth and travelling into deep space.

Whitson already was the world’s most experienced spacewoman and female spacewalker and, at 57, the oldest woman in space. By the time she returns to Earth in September, she’ll have logged 666 days in orbit over three flights.

Whitson told the President that getting to Mars will require collaboration from other countries to succeed. Nasa is building the hardware right now to test a new rocket that will carry astronauts farther from Earth than ever before, she said.

“Well, we want to try and do it during my first term or, at worst, during my second term, so we’ll have to speed that up a little bit, OK?” Trump replied.

“We’ll do our best,” Whitson replied.

The debut of the mega rocket is still more than a year away — at least. The date will depend on whether astronauts are on board for the test flight, which could hoist the new Orion capsule to the vicinity of the moon.