This 56-year-old woman is about to break another record in space
U.S. astronaut Peggy Whitson is about to break another record.
When the 56-year-old took off for the International Space Station in November, she was the oldest woman to ever be in space. On Friday, she'll be the oldest woman to perform a spacewalk.
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As part of her six-month stint at the space station, NASA wrote on its blog how Whitson and fellow astronaut Shane Kimbrough (he's only 49) will perform a "power maintenance spacewalk," which means she'll help replace power gear -- new lithium-ion batteries for storing solar power -- for the station.
The walk on Friday, which starts at 7 a.m. ET and continues for 6.5 hours, is the first of two spacewalks coming up. The second on Jan. 13 will wrap up the battery installation that the two astronauts started.
Their out-of-this-world walk is important, but most of the complex work was done back on Earth by someone using a remote-controlled robotic arm and hand, according to NASA.
In an interview with the Associated Press earlier this week, Whitson said she's adapting to weightless life in space quicker than her last trip in 2008.
"I love being in space," she said. "I sleep like a baby. I mean, it is amazing the great sleep. Nothing hurts when you're lying in bed. You can sleep the whole night through. It's great."
If you add up her three trips, Whitson has spent over a year in space. Next month, she'll celebrate her 57th birthday while in orbit.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
Sasha is a news writer at Mashable's San Francisco office. She's an SF native who went to UC Davis and later received her master's from the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She's been reporting out of her hometown over the years at Bay City News (news wire), SFGate (the San Francisco Chronicle website), and even made it out of California to write for the Chicago Tribune. She's been described as a bookworm and a gym rat.
