Doctor Peggy Whitson

1960 -   Submit Photo / Document

• Name	Peggy Whitson
  Title	Doctor
  Born	9 Feb 1960	Mount Ayr, Ringgold, Iowa
  Gender	Female
  Occupation	Apr 1996
  	Worked for NASA as an Earth based scientist. She was rejected as an astronaut candidate three times but, she kept trying. On her fourth attempt in 1996 she was finally selected.
  		Doctor Peggy Whitson. Doctor Peggy Whitson.
  Occupation	5 Jun 2002
  	Her first space flight was on STS-111, on the shuttle Endeavor. She was left on the International Space Station as part of Expedition 5. They were in space 184 days, 22 hours, 14 minutes and 23 seconds returning on STS-113 which was again the Endeavor.
  		STS-111 Patch.
  		ISS Expedition 5 Patch.
  		STS-111 Crew. The STS-111 Crew (front row and back left) and the passengers that they transported to the International Space Station.
  		STS-111 launch Shuttle Endeavour STS-111 launch
  		International Space Station A photograph of the International Space Station taken from STS-111 as the approached for docking.
  Occupation	Jun 2003
  	Served as the commander of the NEEMO 5 (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory, living and working underwater for 14 days.
  		NEEMO 5 NEEMO 5 crew members in their bunks. Astronauts, Top, L–R: Reisman, Hwang; Middle: Whitson, Anderson; support crew; Bottom: Talacek, Snow.
  Occupation	10 Oct 2007
  	As part of International Space Station Expedition 16, Whitson became the first female commander of the International Space Station. She arrived and departed on the Russian, Soyuz TMA-11. The mission lasted 192 days.
  		Soyuz TMA-11 Soyuz TMA-11 Patch
  		Soyuz TMA-11 Crew. Soyuz TMA-11 Crew. Peggy Whitson right.
  		ISS 16-Soyuz TMA 11 Liftoff. ISS 16-Soyuz TMA 11 Liftoff on October 19th for their October 12th docking with the International Space Station.
  		ISS 16 ISS 16 Patch
  		ISS 16 Crew ISS 16 Crew. Astronaut Peggy Whitson, station commander; Front, right.
  		Whitson EVA November 24, 2007 During the ISS 16 mission Whitson became the woman with the most EVA time and the woman with the most EVAs. By the time the mission was over she was the veteran of 6 space walks and had spent 39 hours, 46 minutes in space outside of a spacecraft.
  		Soyuz TMA-11 recovery Soyuz TMA-11 recovery. The Soyuz recovery vehicle suffered a "ballistic reentry" which was blamed on an "unauthorized change to the flight plan". Although there were reports that the explosive bolts used to separate the Soyuz modules before re-entry didn’t work on time. This may have resulted in the descent module and propulsion modules hitting the atmosphere before they separated. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, American Peggy Whitson and South Korean Yi So-yeon (first Korean to fly in space) experienced forces up to 8.2 times greater than Earth’s gravity. The capsule landed 250 miles off target. The heat shield had been burnt, communications antenna was lost and, the impact damaged the escape hatch. It took the crew 30 minutes to the the hatch open so that they could use a satellite phone to contact the rescue crew. Russian Federal Space Agency chief Anatoly Perminov blamed the incident on the female crew members. he said; "You know in Russia, there are certain bad omens about this sort of thing, but thank God that everything worked out successfully. Of course in the future, we will work somehow to ensure that the number of women will not surpass [the number of men].”
  Occupation	10 Apr 2017
  	Expedition 50/52/52. She arrived on Soyuz MS-03 and departed the Soyuz MS-04 landing September 3, 2017.
  		Soyuz MS-03 Mission Patch.
  		SS Expedition 50 Patch.
  		ISS Expedition 51 Patch.
  		ISS Expedition 52 Patch
  		Soyuz MS-03 Lift Off.
  		Peggy Whitson ISS 50.
  		Whitson EVA exp50.
  		President Trump Phone Call. On April 24, 2017, Whitson broke the record for longest amount of time spent in space by any NASA astronaut. As a result, she received a phone call from US President Donald Trump, the President's daughter Ivanka, and fellow astronaut Kathleen Rubins.
  		President Trump Phone Call 2.
  		Soyuz MS-04_landing.
  		Peggy Whitson Soyuz MS-04 Recovery.
  		Expedition 52 Soyuz MS-04 Landing.
  Occupation	21 May 2023
  	She was mission commander of Axiom Mission 2. A private space flight to the International Space Station using a Space X Falcon 9.
  		AX-2 Patch. AX-2 Patch.
  		AXZ-2 Training. AXZ-2 Training.
  		AX-2 Falcon 9 Rocket AX-2 Falcon 9 Rocket
  		AX-2 Dragon Space Capsule AX-2 Dragon Space Capsule
  		Tesla Model X. Peggy Whitson board the Tesla Model X that is used as the Space X astronaut transfer vehicle.
  		AX-2 Crew. AX-2 Crew aboard the Dragon space capsule.
  		AX-2 Liftoff. AX-2 Liftoff.
  		ISS AX_2 At the conclusion of this mission Peggy had spent 675 days. 3 hours and. 49 minutes in space.
  		AX-2 Recovery. She said; "I would have to say my first splashdown in the Dragon capsule felt significantly less sporty than my previous dirt landings in a Soyuz."
  		AX-2 Recovery AX-2 Recovery
  Person ID	I66568	Nagel
  Last Modified	24 Dec 2023

  
  

  Father	Earl Keith Whitson,   b. 3 May 1937, Union, Ringgold, Iowa
  Relationship	Birth
  Mother	Beth Avalee Walters,   b. 26 Jun 1939, Beaconsfield, Ringgold, Iowa
  Relationship	Birth
  Family ID	F20903	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos		Peggy Whitson. Peggy Whitson.
  		Peggy Whitson She commanded the NEEMO 5 mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory. She is a veteran of 4 missions in space. She has a total of 675 days in space. That's more time in space than any woman in the world. She holds the records for the oldest woman spacewalker and the most spacewalks by a woman. She spent 60 hours, 21 minutes outside a spacecraft. This places her in fifth place for total EVA time. In 2023 she became the oldest woman to orbit the Earth at the age of 63.