Space Coast, Florida — Iowa native astronaut Peggy Whitson says she’s ready for her next space mission after returning last week from her record-setting fourth trip to the International Space Station.
Whitson, who grew up in Beaconsfield, is the only astronaut who’s gone into orbit on an American space shuttle, a Russian Soyuz, and now a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. She says the G-forces from this latest launch were quite impressive.
Six-thousand meters per second is over 13-thousand miles per hour. The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying Whitson and three crewmates splashed down off the Florida coast last week following a ten-day mission. While Whitson has spent well over 600 days aboard the space station, she says new equipment and a large crew made navigating inside the orbiting outpost more of a challenge.
Eleven astronauts and cosmonauts were aboard the station at one time during this Axiom 2 mission. Whitson, who is now a private astronaut, was asked whether she’s ready for her next launch.
Private astronaut John Shoffner and two Saudi Arabian astronauts joined Whitson aboard Axiom 2. They conducted more than 20 experiments in space. With her fourth mission completed, Whitson’s U.S. space endurance record stands at 675 days.
