NASA Astronaut, Peggy Whitson Breaks Spacewalking Record for Women in Space

On Thursday, March 30th, 2017, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson set a new record for women in space. She and fellow NASA astronaut, Shane Kimbrough, ventured outside of the International Space Station for the second time in 7 days. Thursday’s spacewalk wrapped up some ongoing work to get the space station ready to accommodate commercial spacecraft.

Overall, the pair of astronauts spent 7 hours and 4 minutes outside of the space station. After 4 hours and 23 minutes, Whitson broke the record for cumulative spacewalking time by a female astronaut. Whitson completed her 8th spacewalk and topped the record finishing with 53 hours and 22 minutes. NASA astronaut Suni Williams previously held the record with a total of 50 hours and 40 minutes.