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Peggy Whitson sets new NASA record for the most days spent in space

Great to see more visibility for women at NASA and to see STEM education for women being noted by the US President. Today, Peggy Whitson has set a new NASA record for the most days spent in space.


Whitson started work at NASA in the 1980s. Back then, she was a researcher who supported space missions from the ground. She was named project scientist of the Shuttle-Mir Program in 1992. Four years later, she was selected as an astronaut, and in 2002, she made her first trip to the International Space Station.


Nearly 15 years after her first space launch, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson has now spent more time off-planet than any other American, at more than 534 days. Whitson, 57, is a biochemist who has twice commanded the International Space Station.


Whitson was 56 when she left for her third long-term mission aboard the space station last November, making her the oldest U.S. woman in space.


Whitson is scheduled to return to Earth's surface in September.


Read more at: 
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/04/24/525374569/astronaut-peggy-whitson-sets-new-nasa-record-for-most-days-in-space  
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-astronaut-peggy-whitson-talks-stem-education-with-president-trump