Peggy Whitson
She has broken many records during her time in space
Having recently returned from the International Space Station (ISS), it is fair to say that Peggy Whitson has set a new standard for astronauts. She has smashed numerous records with her time in space, which tallied up to 665 days, but she still insists this should only a benchmark for future astronauts.
Whitson was born in Mount Ayr, Iowa, United States on 9 February 1960, but she considers her hometown to be Beaconsfield, Iowa. Having gained her many degrees, including a doctorate degree in biochemistry, Whitson began her NASA career in 1989 as a research biochemist at the Biomedical Operations and Research Branch at NASA’s Johnson Space Centre. Her journey as an astronaut began in 1996, when Whitson was selected as an astronaut candidate as part of the 1996 NASA Group. After many years of vigorous training, evaluation and preparation, the time had finally arrived to head to the ISS on 5 June 2002 as part of Expedition 5 crew. In this expedition, Whitson was named the first NASA science officer during her stay as she conducted 21 scientific investigations. These investigations included research into human-life sciences and microgravity sciences, but there was also the handling of multiple commercial payloads. In 2008, Whitson returned as the first female commander of the ISS as part of Expedition 16. Her responsibilities on the ISS included the significant installation of the Harmony node, the Columbus laboratory and the Kibo logistics module.
Whitson went back for a third time, but whereas the previous missions were both roughly six months individually, this third trip – consisting of Expeditions 50, 51 and 52 – totalled a whopping nineand-a-half months! That's 288 days of travelling around the Earth at 28,000 kilometres (17,500 miles) per hour. During this time, Whitson and the rest of the crew improved the infrastructure of the ISS and conducted vital scientific research, pushing the boundaries of our scientific understanding in space.
On 2 September 2017, Whitson returned to Earth along with fellow NASA astronaut Jack Fischer, and Roscosmos Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin. This rough landing marked many achievements for Peggy Whitson, the most notable of which is the fact she has accumulated more days in space than any other American. As well as overtaking Jeff Williams for the amount of time in space by an American by 131 days, Whitson also completed ten EVAs (Extra-Vehicular Activity) equalling sixty hours, also making her the record holder for the most EVA time accumulated by a female astronaut.
When asked about her thoughts of all these records she has broken, Whitson replied, “I have noted in more than a few interviews that
I am not overly comfortable with the praise about the records. I honestly do think that it is critical that we are continuously breaking records, because that represents us moving forward in exploration.” This line of thought should epitomise the attitude of all scientists and explorers, as it underlines the need to push the boundaries of our understanding. That still begs the question though: will we see Whitson in space again? The answer is, who knows! However, she has made it clear she intends to stay involved in spaceflight programs.