Barlow SkyWatch: Girl Power & Space Records
Mind Bending | May 31, 2017
By Alan J Peche, Director, Barlow Planetarium
On Monday morning, April 24, Peggy Whitson, commander of the Expedition 52 on the International Space Station (ISS), broke the record of longest cumulative time in orbit for a U.S. astronaut. She has surpassed Jeff Williams’ (a Wisconsin native) time of 534 days. Commander Whitson – the second time she has held that title aboard the ISS – will complete her current mission in September. She will have been in orbit nearly 10-months; orbit started on November 17 last year. Whitson will be in the top ten of time spent in space – surrounded by seven highly experienced cosmonauts.
RECORD HOLDERS
The current world record holder for time in space is Gennady Padalka, with 878 days in space. Commander Jeff Williams, now the second most traveled U.S. astronaut, has been bumped to 15th with 534 days in orbit. Commander Scott Kelly – who spent nearly a year in space on his last mission – is currently the third most travelled and has 520 days in orbit!
WHITSON’S OTHER RECORDS
Whitson also has some other exceptional records:
- Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA): Whitson ranks third on the list of EVA experience with 60 hours. She is behind Russian Anatoly Solovtyev (82 hours, 22 minutes) and fellow American Michael Lopez-Alegria (67 hours, 40 minutes).
- Age: Whitson is the oldest woman astronaut at the age of 57.
- Longest Single Flight by a Woman: The record is 199 days, 16 hours is currently held by Italian Samantha Cristoforetti; Whitson will break the record in June and will add an additional 90+ days to it.
HISTORY OF WOMEN IN SPACE
The history of women in space started with Valentina Tereshkova on June 16, 1963 when she become the first women, and first civilian, to go to space. She competed 48 orbits in 2 days, 23-hours and 12 minutes.
To date, less than 600 individuals have flown in space. Of those 600 individuals, 60 have been women – most on NASA vehicles. American Sally Ride was the first American woman in space (and the third woman in the world). Eilleen Collins and Pamela Melroy were the first two Space Shuttle Commanders. Four American female astronauts made the ultimate sacrifice – Christa MacAulliffe (Challenger), Judith Resnik (Challenger), Kalpana Chawla (Columbia) and Laurel Clark (Columbia) with their 10 fellow crew members in 1986 and 2003.
Congratulations to Commander Peggy Whitson on a completion of her record breaking mission as Commander of Expedition 51 on the International Space Station.
Each month, the Barlow Planetarium, Wisconsin’s first major planetarium, provides interesting science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) topics for students of all ages. See BarlowPlanetarium.org for more information, and for a SkyChart.
Photo Courtesy of NASA
