In the early-morning hours on Sunday, astronaut Peggy Whitson, tucked inside
a Soyuz capsule, returned to earth on the plains of Kazakhstan along with her
colleague Jack Fischer and a Russian cosmonaut. Before re-entering, Whitson had
spent 288 days aboard the International Space Station, good for the longest
amount of time any female astronaut has ever spent in orbit for a single space
flight. Her total time in space, 665 days, is now the most cumulative time spent
in space by any astronaut — male or female. That’s nearly two years! Frankly,
with what’s been happening lately on planet earth, who can blame Whitson for
wanted to escape?! But we digress … As you can see in the chart below, Whitson
has a monumental lead over five of her male colleagues for the most cumulative
days spent in outer space
Peggy Whitson set the record on Sept. 2, 2017, for most cumulative days living and working in space by a NASA astronaut at 665 days. pic.twitter.com/MOq3acvp4O
Whitson has made these accomplishments, and litany of others nicely
enumerated by NASA here, at the age of 57. But that’s kind of old hat for the
intrepid astronaut. She became the oldest woman astronaut in space at the age of
56 last November. Through it all, she doesn’t seem the least bit jaded by the
awesomeness of what she gets to do for a living. A few weeks before returning to
earth, she shared a photo on Twitter of herself taking in a magical sunset.
Below, watch some NASA footage of the moment Whitson’s capsule touches down
on earth. It’s actually a rather dramatic re-entry to the planet — fitting of
the dramatic inspiration Whitson has become.
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