Peggy Whitson

Some Lesser Known Facts About Peggy Whitson

• Does Peggy Whitson smoke: Not Known

• Does Peggy Whitson drink alcohol: Not Known

• After graduating from University in 1985, she began working at the University itself as a Robert A Welch Postdoctoral Fellow and continued until October 1986.

•  Following her fellowship at Rice, Whitson started working at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, as a National Research Council Resident Research Associate.

• Whitson served as the Supervisor for the Biochemistry Research Group at KRUG International, a medical sciences contractor at NASA-JSC between April 1988 and September 1989.

• Whitson worked as a research biochemist in the Biomedical Operations and Research Branch at NASA-JSC between 1989 and 1993.

• In 1991, she began working as a technical monitor of the Biochemistry Research Laboratories in the Biomedical Operations and Research Branch and continued till 1993.

• she was the payload element developer for Bone Cell Research Experiment (E10) aboard SL-J (STS-47) and was a member of the US-USSR Joint Working Group in Space Medicine and Biology.

• In 1992, she was named the project scientist of the Shuttle-Mir Program (STS-60, STS-63, STS-71, Mir 18, Mir 19), and served in this capacity until the conclusion of the Phase 1A Program in 1995.

• From 1993 through 1996, Whitson held the additional responsibilities of the deputy division chief of the Medical Sciences Division at NASA-JSC.

• From 1992 to 1995, she served as a project scientist for the Shuttle-Mir Program and, until her selection as an astronaut candidate in 1996, as deputy division chief for the Medical Sciences division at the Johnson Space Center.

• She served as co-chair of the U.S.-Russian Mission Science Working Group between 1995 and 96.

• Whitson was selected as an astronaut candidate and started training in April 1996 and started getting training for the same in August 1996. Upon completing the two years of training and evaluation, she was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Operations Planning Branch and served as the lead for the Crew Test Support Team in Russia from 1998 to 1999.

• Whitson was named the first NASA science officer during her stay, and she conducted 21 investigations in human life sciences and microgravity sciences, as well as commercial payloads. The Expedition 5 crew returned to Earth aboard STS-113 in December 2002. Completing her first flight, Whitson logged 184 days, 22 hours and 14 minutes in space.

• Whitson served as the commander of the NEEMO 5 mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory, living and working underwater for fourteen days. From November 2003 to March 2005, she served as deputy chief of the Astronaut in June 2003.

• From November 2003 to March 2005, she served as deputy chief of the Astronaut Office. From March 2005 to November 2005, she served as chief of the Station Operations Branch, Astronaut Office.

• Whitson trained as the backup ISS commander for Expedition 14 from November 2005 through September 2006, and as the ISS commander for Expedition 16, launched October 2007, on the Soyuz TMA-11.

• Her second mission, Expedition 16, launched October 10, 2007, on Soyuz TMA-11. After spending 191 days, 19 hrs and 8 mins in space on this mission, Peggy, along with her crew members landed back on Earth in April 2008.

• During Expedition 16 she surpassed Sunita Williams for a woman with the most spacewalks.

• Whitson served as Chief of the Astronaut Office until July 2012 and, as such, was responsible for mission preparation activities of International Space Station crews and their support personnel.

• Upon completing 534 days, 2 hours and 48 minutes in the space, Whitson officially broke the record for longest amount of time spent in space by any NASA astronaut. US President Donald Trump congratulated on a televised phone call from the Oval office. Whitson is expected to return to Earth in September 2017, which would give her more than 650 cumulative days in space, good enough for at least ninth on the all-time list.

• In January 2025, Sunita Williams set a new record for spacewalking by completing 62 hours and 6 minutes, surpassing Whitson’s previous record of 60 hours.