America’s Most Experienced Astronaut

Air Date: September 11, 2017

In this image posted to her Twitter feed on May 30, 2017, astronaut Peggy Whitson holds up Chinese cabbage grown in the International Space Station. During her third and latest mission, which began November 2016, the 57-year-old biochemist became the oldest woman in space. (NASA via AP)

Let’s sing the praises of NASA superstar Peggy Whitson! Now back on Planet Earth after 288 days in space, she’s now the most experienced U.S. astronaut with 665 days on orbit. That’s 131 days more than her nearest competitor, Jeff Williams. Whitson has also logged 60 hours and 21 minutes of cumulative spacewalk time!
She has also been named Commander twice and has the most time on spacewalks for any woman astronaut…the list of superlatives goes on.

NASA’s Cassini is on its final orbit now, heading to destruction on Friday morning. It is expected to fragment under impact stress while still transmitting data about the interior of Saturn as it goes.

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