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On a recent visit to Baku, Azerbaijan, a former NASA astronaut, and the first female to command the International Space Station (ISS), Peggy Whitson, shared her experience with students. Whitson, a biochemist, and accomplished astronaut, was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1996 and has completed three long-duration stays onboard the ISS, Azernews reports, citing Azercosmos.

Whitson's first space mission was in 2002: an extended stay aboard the ISS as a member of Expedition 5. On her second mission, Expedition 16 in 2007-2008, she became the first woman to command the ISS. She conducted five spacewalks for station assembly and maintenance and logged a total of 192 days in space for this long-duration flight.

In 2009, Whitson became the first woman to serve as NASA's Chief Astronaut, the most senior position in the NASA Astronaut Corps. In 2017, Whitson became the first woman to command the International Space Station twice. Her 289-day flight was the longest single space flight by a woman until Christina Koch's 328-day flight.

Whitson held the record for most spacewalks by a female astronaut and has logged 665 days in space, the most for any American astronaut, placing her in the eighth spot on the all-time space endurance list.

During her visit to Baku, Whitson shared her experience with students and discussed the importance of STEM education. She also spoke about her journey to becoming an astronaut and the challenges she faced along the way.

Whitson's visit to Baku was part of a larger effort to inspire the next generation of space explorers and to encourage more young people to pursue careers in STEM.

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