Peggy Whitson

Peggy Annette Whitson (born February 9, 1960) is an American biochemistry researcher, and astronaut working for Axiom Space. She retired from NASA in 2018, after serving as the 13th Chief of the Astronaut Office. Over all her missions, Whitson has accumulated a total of 695 days in space, more than any other American or woman.

Her first NASA space mission was in 2002: an extended stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as a crew member of Expedition 5. On her second mission, Expedition 16 in 2007-2008, she became the first woman to command the ISS. In 2009, she became the first woman to serve as NASA's Chief Astronaut, the most senior position in the NASA Astronaut Corps. In 2017, Whitson became the first woman to command the International Space Station twice. Her 289-day flight was the longest single space flight by a woman until Christina Koch's 328-day flight.