Peggy Whitson To Extend Record-Breaking NASA Mission

Peggy Whitson, NASA's first female astronaut to have spent more cumulative time in space than any other, is en route to breaking another record. It seems that she is not satisfied with her record so far and is planning on staying for three more months at the International Space Station (ISS), surpassing her own numbers.

It is reported that Whitson reached the ISS in November 2016, thanks to a Russian Soyuz rocket. She was accompanied by Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and European Space Agency's Thomas Pesquet on the Expedition 51. In her latest trip, she is extending some time to allow for conduction of more experiments on board.

The 57-year-old astronaut was the first woman to command the space station back in 2008. This coming April 9, she will have her take over as commander for the second time. Currently, she is on her third mission, already breaking records for the most spacewalks performed by a woman. The decision to stay was hers alone.

In a statement as noted by Space.com, she reiterated how much she loved being on the space station, where she felt like she can "make the greatest contribution." She also added that she is currently trying to squeeze as much time as she can from her experiments, the three-month extension may just be the way to pave such road.

According to NASA, this is Peggy Whitson's third long-duration stay on board the ISS. As of November 2016, she already had 277 days in space under her belt. By the end of the mission on April 24, she can break Jeff Williams' record of 534 cumulative days.

Longest time on the ISS aside, Whitson already had several records under her belt, including the first woman to command the space station in 2008. On April 9, she will also be the first woman to command it twice. Lastly, Peggy Whitson holds the record for most spacewalks ever done by a female, with eight of them under her belt so far.