An Out-of-This-World-Call to Congratulate Peggy Whitson

On April 24, President Donald Trump will make an out-of-this-world call to congratulate Peggy Whitson, a NASA astronaut who broke the record for her mission to the International Space Station. Ivanka Trump, US President’s daughter, together with Kate Rubins, an astronaut at NASA, will make a call to the ISS to from the Oval Office at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT).

Donald Trump and his daughter will congratulate Peggy Whitson for her outstanding career

The announcement was made on April 18 by NASA officials. The purpose of the call is to congratulate the successful astronaut for her extraordinary achievements in space. NASA officials stated that Peggy Whitson would set a new record on Monday, April 24, for most cumulative days spent in cosmos. Whitson is the commander of the Expedition 51 crew at the ISS.

She is bound to surpass the record previously established by Jeff Williams of 534 days. Moreover, she was also declared to be the first woman to be the commander of the space station twice. Peggy Whitson also holds the record for the highest number of spacewalks performed by a female astronaut. Back in 2002, Whitson engages in her first space flight, being part of the Expedition 5 mission to the ISS and she got back home in 2007 while the Expedition 16 mission was unfolding.

On Monday, she will surpass the record for the most cumulative days in space

While Expedition 16 was still under development, Peggy first took command over the International Space Station. She also became the first female commander astronaut from NASA, performing eight spacewalks in her entire career. On Monday, anyone who is curious about this event could watch the out-of-this-world call between Trump and Whitson live online. NASA TV is bound to broadcast the call online.

NASA officials also declared that they are prone to post the video, being available all over the United States, in museums, schools and all over the world. NASA representatives indicated that the Department of Education and NASA are collaborating to motivate schools across America to discuss this historic event. NASA is also bound to make available all needed materials to further engage American students who are interested in this event.

Students are required to access STEM on Station to make use of extra information regarding the activities of astronauts while they develop demonstrations for STEM concepts like surface tension and Newton’s Laws of Motion. Peggy Whitson still commands the Expedition 51 crew of the space station which includes astronauts like Thomas Pesquet and Oleg Novitskiy.

Image courtesy of: wikipedia