Peggy Whitson became the first female commander of the International Space Station in October 2007.
In five combined missions, Whitson has spent more than 655 days in space, which is the record for most total days spent in space by any NASA astronaut. She has also spent 60 hours outside the International Space Station performing spacewalks.
Her childhood, however, was spent with her feet on the ground on her family’s farm in Ringgold County, Iowa.
“My Dad had probably a few hundred acres and it grew and my brother has several hundred acres now and I also have several hundred acres and so all of that together is part of the family farm…” she told the Iowa Farm Bureau in December 2018.
One of Whitson’s missions even included agriculture. In 2002, she presented soybean plants that a seed company grew in a microgravity environment.