The incredible career of NASA's Peggy Whitson, who applied to become an astronaut 10 times before she broke the American record for space travel

 

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, the 58-year-old from Iowa farm country who spent a record-breaking 665 days in space, retired from the space agency on Friday.

"I have hit my radiation limit," Whitson told Business Insider during a recent interview. "So not going into space with NASA anymore."

That realization is both melancholic and exciting for the biochemist, who only half-jokingly admits she's still not sure what she's going to do "when I grow up." 

It's an ironic statement from someone who has logged more time in space than any other American, and was the first woman to command the International Space Station.

"It’s been the greatest honor to live out my lifelong dream of being a @NASA Astronaut," Whitson wrote on Twitter Friday, announcing her retirement. 

To date, exploring space is an honor she shares with less than 60 women. Whitson sometimes gets tears in her eyes when she reflects on the fact that she will most likely never see space or float above her home planet again. 

Regardless of what she decides to pursue next, take a look at what the trail-blazing astronaut has accomplished so far.

SEE ALSO: A NASA astronaut who spent 665 days circling the planet reveals the misery of going to the bathroom in space

Peggy Whitson grew up on a farm in rural Iowa. When she was a senior in high school in 1978, she learned that NASA had recruited its first female astronauts. For the first time, Whitson thought her dream of becoming an astronaut might be "realistic and achievable."

Source: The Week

Whitson started her career with NASA in 1986 as biochemist. She applied to be an astronaut 10 times before finally getting selected. She began training in 1996 and served on her first space mission in 2002.

Source: NASA / The Week

Reflecting on her numerous rejections, she told The Week: "You have to work to make things come into reality. In the end, because I enjoyed what I was doing along the way and was learning so much, I think I was a much better astronaut because of it. Even if, at the time, I certainly didn't agree."

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

Contributer : Tech Insider https://ift.tt/2tiQT2j

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