NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson returns to Earth as American who spent most time in space
NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson touched down to Earth on Sunday, completing a record-shattering 288-day mission
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NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson touched down to Earth on Sunday, completing a record-shattering 288-day mission that put her over the top as the American who has spent the most cumulative amount of time in space. AP
Whitson, 57, is also the oldest female astronaut in the history of space exploration, was the first female International Space Station commander, and holds the record for number of spacewalks (10) by a woman. AP
Whitson (left) crewmates Jack Fischer (right) of NASA and Fyodor Yurchikhin (centre) of Russian space agency Roscosmos landed in a remote area outside the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan at 7.31 am local time Sunday (0121 GMT) in a Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft. AP
Ground personnel help US astronaut Jack Fischer after landing. Jack "2Fish" Fischer, 43, went into space as a rookie but has won over space-watchers with his boundless enthusiasm during his four-and-a-half months aboard the ISS. AP
Ground personnel help Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin after landing. Yurchikhin logged even more time in space than Whitson: 673 days over five missions. Yurchikhin is now No. 7 on the world's all-time endurance list, followed by Whitson at No. 8. AP
Ground personnel help Peggy Whitson from the capsule after landing. After earning a doctorate in biochemistry in 1985, Whitson worked as a NASA scientist for seven years before starting as an astronaut in 1997. AP
Russian Soyuz MS-04 space capsule lands in Kazakhstan. On this most recent mission, Whitson conducted experiments with human stem cells, blood samples and grew several crops of Chinese cabbage, according to posts on her Facebook page. AP
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