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Peggy Whitson
Peggy A. Whitson (born 9 February 1960) is an American astonaut and a veteran of an extended stay aboard the International Space Station.
Born and raised in Mt. Ayr, Iowa, Whitson earned her doctorate in biochemistry from Rice University in 1985. Follow postdoctoral work at Rice, she joined the research staff of the Johnson Space Center. From 1992 to 1995, she served as project scientist for the Shuttle-Mir Program and, until her selection as an astronaut candidate in 1996, as Deputy Division Chief for the Medical Sciences division at the Johnson Space Center. Whitson's sole spaceflight to date was a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station in 2002. She was the first desginated NASA Science Officer aboard the station and conducted experiments in human life sciences and microgravity science. In 2003, she was appointed Deputy Chief of NASA's Astronaut Office.
