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Peggy Whitson Becomes The Oldest To Perform A Spacewalk

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Vidhya Bharathi
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Peggy Whitson

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She isn't new to record and here's another one in her cap. Peggy Whitson became the oldest woman in space, at the age of 56, when she reached the International Space Station in November 2016. She has now set a record for being the oldest woman to do a spacewalk.  Whitson's spacewalk lasted for over 6.5 hours, which was streamed live on social media websites.

Peggy Whitson Peggy Whitson sets new records
Credits: Womenandapce.com

Peggy Whitson performed the first of the scheduled power maintenance spacewalk along with commander Shane Kimbrough. Regarding the mission, NASA earlier said, “Working on the right side truss of the space station, the crew members will install adapter plates and hook up electrical connections for six new lithium-ion batteries that were delivered to the station in December 2016. Prior to each spacewalk, the new batteries will be robotically extracted from a pallet to replace 12 older nickel-hydrogen batteries through a series of robotic operations." NASA added, “Nine of the older batteries will be stowed in a cargo resupply craft for later disposal, while three will remain on the station’s truss, disconnected from the power grid.”

Peggy Whitson will turn 57-years-old this year in her spacecraft and she is creating records with each passing day. She is expected to return to earth in April and when she does, she would hold the record for most time spent in the space.

This was Peggy Whitson's 7th spacewalk, matching the most number of spacewalks record held by Sunita Williams.

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Altogether, this incredible lady has spent close to a year in the space now. Earlier this week,  Peggy Whitson in an interview with the Associated Press said, "I love being in space," she said. "I sleep like a baby. I mean, it is amazing the great sleep. Nothing hurts when you're lying in bed. You can sleep the whole night through. It's great."

Peggy Whitson, she is unstoppable and is an inspiration to each one of us!

 

 

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NASA ISS Peggy Peggy Whitson Spacewalk Unstoppable
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