Meet a famous Iowan: Peggy Whitson

Six-hundred sixty-five days is a long time. It's nearly 16,000 hours and a few months shy of two years.

What if you spent all that time in outer space? The U.S. record for the most time spent in space is 665 days, and it's held by Iowan and astronaut Peggy Whitson.

Whitson has been on 10 spacewalks, according to NASA, and her longest non-stop stretch in space was 337 days - the most for any American woman when she completed it.

For her, outer space isn't a faraway place.

'I've been there long enough that it's my second home,” she told The Gazette in 2018.

Whitson grew up in one of Iowa's smallest towns. She often visits schools in the Midwest to talk about how she became the first woman to command the International Space Station. She had to push herself, taking on challenges even when she was a little scared.

She hopes her story can inspire other Iowa kids to live their dreams.

'I hope they see that dreams are possible,” Whitson said. 'I hope with my story they understand also that you have to work for those dreams to make them happen.”

Hometown: Beaconsfield

Fun fact: Whitson said the No. 1 question kids ask when she visits school is how she goes to the bathroom in space. The answer? Astronauts 'rely on suction, good aim and lots of wet wipes,” she said.

Comments: molly.duffy@thegazette.com