As of 2019, who is the world's oldest and most experienced spacewoman?

Peggy Annette Whitson was born on February 9, 1960 in Mount Ayr, Iowa. She is an American biochemistry researcher (Ph.D in Biochemistry) and NASA astronaut. Her first space mission was in 2002, with an extended stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as a member of Expedition 5. Her second mission launched October 10, 2007, as the first woman commander of the ISS with Expedition 16. She is currently in space on her third long-duration space flight and was the commander of the International Space Station for Expedition 51.

After completion of her tenth EVA in May 2017, Whitson holds the records for the oldest woman spacewalker (age 57) and the record for total spacewalks by a woman. Whitson's cumulative EVA time is 60 hours, 21 minutes, which places her in 3rd place for total EVA time. In 2017, Whitson became the first woman astronaut to command the International Space Station twice.

On April 24, 2017, Whitson broke the record for most total days spent in space by any NASA astronaut, at more than 534 days. In June 2017, Whitson broke the record for the longest single space flight by a woman which had previously been 199 days, 16 hours. Whitson is expected to spend around 290 days on orbit before returning to Earth aboard Soyuz MS-04.