Listener Joe mentioned something of note concerning the most recent NASA crew to the ISS.

Peggy Whitson will be spending her next birthday aboard the ISS.  She will be 57 years old.  The oldest to date had been Barbara Morgan, who was 55 during her tour aboard the station. 

This of course is NOT Whitson's first tour of duty aboard the station.  Whitson first served a duty on the space station in 2012 and has accumulated a total of 377 days in space, plus a history of performing successful spacewalks. 

Aside from being the oldest female astronaut to reach the ISS, Whitson will also break the world record this expedition for the longest time spent in space, a record currently held by NASA astronaut Jeffrey Williams with 534 days under his belt.

For more - click HERE

Female pilots reached for the stars

I found a neat article on early Mercury era female test pilots on the CNN site. Here is an excerpt :

Nearly half a century ago, 13 female pilots proved they were as fit to go into space as the men who became immortalized as America's first astronauts, the Mercury 7.

The women underwent the same intensive medical tests, at the same Albuquerque, New Mexico, clinic, administered by the same staff, as the men did two years earlier.

"When you put them next to the men, they were as good or better," recalled Dr. Donald Kilgore, who helped test both the men and women between 1959 and 1961 at the Lovelace Clinic.

What was the women's biggest obstacle?

"Ovaries," said Kilgore. "The world just wasn't ready at that time."

click on the article title for more.