Peggy Whitson, US Astronaut, Becomes Oldest Woman to Explore Space

On Friday in Kazakhstan, Expedition 50/51’s launch made NASA’s Peggy Whitson the oldest female astronaut to go into space.

Whitson is 56; the previous record was Barbara Morgan at 55. John Glenn still holds the record for oldest man in space at 77.

Whitson is headed to her third mission on the International Space Station and will be the first woman to command the station twice.

So far, the Iowa-born biochemistry researcher has spent 377 days in space, more than a year, which is the most for any woman. When Whitson’s craft returns to Earth in May 2017, she has a chance to break the record for the American with the most days in orbit regardless of gender. Jeff Williams now holds that title with 534 days. 

Russian Gennady Padalka has the all-time record spent in space with 879 days, according to The Telegraph.

Besides her days in space orbit, Whitson also has performed spacewalks six times for a total of 39 hours and 46 minutes.

Whitson’s team will work on a series of scientific experiments while they are aboard the Space Station. Her team includes three Russians, an American, and a European astronaut.

A Soyuz rocket carried Witson and two colleagues to the International Space Station from Kazakhstan. It took about two days to reach the space station, according to the Telegraph.

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