NASA Astronaut To Become Oldest Woman In Space
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CAPE CANAVERAL (CBSMiami/AP) — When NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson rockets off the planet this week she'll be become the oldest woman in space.
Whitson, 56, is scheduled to launch into space on Thursday. She'll celebrate her 57th birthday on the International Space Station.
That's a far cry from John Glenn's space shuttle flight at age 77 and a few years shy of the male runners-up over the years. But it's enough to beat Barbara Morgan's record as the world's oldest spacewoman. Morgan waited so long to fulfill her role as Christa McAuliffe's teacher-in-space backup that she was 55 when she finally flew in 2007.
This will be the third space station mission for Whitson, and her second stint as commander. She'll launch from Kazakhstan with two younger men, Russian and French.
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