Woman breaks record heading for the stars

For 56-year-old American Astronaut Peggy Whitson reaching for the stars isn’t just a saying, it’s what she does for a living. The Iowa-born biochemist has set a record for the oldest woman in space as she’s on her way for her third stint on the International Space Station.

Dr Whitson has already spent over a year, 377 days to be exact, in space and will be spending another six months orbiting Earth to bring her tally past the 534-day record set by 58-year-old astronaut Jeffery Williams this past September.

This mission will also be Dr Whitson’s second as commander and will add to her multiple spacewalks to show that she’s nowhere near done breaking records and barriers. She will be joined on this mission by the first timer Thomas Pesquet from France and veteran Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy.

In February, Dr Whitson will be celebrating her 57th Birthday with a one of a kind celebration looking back at Earth from the International Space Station.

 

Expedition 50 crew members Peggy Whitson, Thomas Pesquet and Oleg Novistkiy launched today at 3:20 p.m. EST beginning a two-day trip to the International Space Station. #nasa #roscosmos #soyuz #rocket #cargo #science #astronaut #cosmonaut #internationalspacestation #spacestation #space #station #outerspace #outofthisworld #america #unitedstates #russia #europe #france #esa

A video posted by International Space Station (@iss) on Nov 17, 2016 at 7:05pm PST

 

The Expedition 50-51 crew members (from left) Thomas Pesquet, Oleg Novitskiy and Peggy Whitson are in Kazakhstan one week away from their Nov. 17 launch to the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. #nasa #roscosmos #esa #unitedstates #america #russia #europe #france #soyuz #rocket #cargo #science #astronaut #cosmonaut #internationalspacestation #spacestation #space #station #outerspace #outofthisworld

A photo posted by International Space Station (@iss) on Nov 10, 2016 at 4:31pm PST

What do you think of her journey? Are you inspiried by the thought of going to space? Have you ever wanted to see what it’s like on the International Space Station?