Video shot and edited by CNE. Click here for transcript.
Peggy Whitson was the first astronaut I got to meet and talk with at length, ten years ago at a party at Moody Gardens celebrating NASA’s 50th anniversary. She was cool and canny, radiating competence and cutting a different figure than her male astronaut counterparts, rocking a gown and heels as she worked the crowds. I liked her immediately.
If I’d known I was meeting a legend, I would have paid even closer attention. Whitson is one of the most accomplished astronauts in the corps, holding a large number of NASA records including the most spacewalks by a NASA astronaut (ten, tied with Michael López-Alegría) and more time in space than any other American, surpassing even Scott Kelly.
Space ace
And as it turns out, Whitson is about as skilled an astronaut as they come. I’ve had the opportunity to talk with a lot of space flight insiders over the past few years, and when conversations turn to the modern-day astronaut corps and the ISS, Whitson’s name invariably comes up—and never negatively. She’s often described as not just a model astronaut, but as a space superhero—a stunningly talented professional in orbit who powers through tasks and assignments with zero mistakes, devouring work and clearing schedules with effortless ease. She is almost universally regarded as the solution to any problem on the ISS—if something’s not working, inside or outside of the station, you can probably throw Whitson at it and it’ll be back on the nominal in no time.
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