NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson to become oldest woman in space

NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson is on theverge of becoming the oldest woman in space, adding to her long list of barrier-breaking records.

Whitson will be 56 when she rockets off the planet Thursday.She'll celebrate her 57th birthday in February on the InternationalSpace Station.

That's a far cry from John Glenn's space shuttle flight at age 77and a few years shy of the male runners-up. But it's enough to beatBarbara Morgan's record as the world's oldest spacewoman. Morganwaited so long to fulfilher role as Christa McAuliffe'steacher-in-space backup that she was 55 when she finally flew in2007.

• Scientists look to Hawaii in the search for life on Mars
• Meet some of Canada's keenest astronaut candidates

This will be the third space station mission for Whitson, anIowa-born biochemist, and her second stint as commander. She'lllaunch from Kazakhstan with two younger men, Russian and French. They'll join an American and two Russians at the space station.

"It is a great place to work and live, and I feel really luckythat we are going to be with friends while we're there," Whitsonsaid Wednesday at the traditional day-before-launch news conference.

"Even if I'm just cleaning the vents in the fans, it all isimportant."

Whitson was the first woman to serve as commander of the spacestation in 2007, nine years into its lifetime. She also was thefirst and so far only woman to head NASA's male-dominatedastronaut corps. No other woman has spent more time in space.

All right, yes, I'm old.- PeggyWhitson, NASA astronaut

Strict when it comes to lifetime radiation exposure, NASAinsisted Whitson remain Earth-bound for a while after her last
mission.

"I would have rather gone sooner, but I'll deal with it," shesaid over the summer.

She'll ride a Soyuz rocket with a Russian cosmonaut, OlegNovitskiy, 45, and a French newcomer to space, Thomas Pesquet, who's38.

Launch is 3:20 p.m. EST Thursdayfrom theBaikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

"Dear Peggy, you're such a brave woman who has won over heartsof all Baikonur residents," city administrator Anatoly Petrenkosaid during a ceremony Wednesday. "I admire you. All the best atlaunch."

During training, a French documentary crew followed Pesquet,focusing on his relative youth and fresh eyes. Whitson said theinterest on her, by comparison, was for being "old andexperienced."

"All right, yes, I'm old," she said in a NASA interview. Shenoted in a recent series of preflight interviews that it gets easierwith age, knowing what to expect on a spaceflight and how toprioritize.

At Wednesday's press conference, Whitson said that while she'llmiss her friends and family biochemist husband Clarence Sams also works for NASA probably the biggest challenge is the lack ofvariety in space food.

"There will be French food this time," Pesquet assured her. Heand his crewmates will enjoy dishes whipped up in advance by topchefs; Pesquet said he'll prepare the New Year's feast.

Whitson already has spent 377 days in space and performedmultiple spacewalks. Her upcoming six-month mission should push herbeyond 534 days in space, the U.S. record set in September by58-year-old astronaut Jeffrey Williams.

Whitson said she's had a lucky run with few regrets. But she toldreporters last summer: "In terms of goals for NASA before I die, weneed to be living on Mars. And I might not live that long, so theybetter get with it!"

• Chris Hadfield: 4 tips for would-be astronauts
• David Saint-Jacques will be the next Canadian astronaut in space