User:AlisonInggs/sandbox

Peggy Annette Whitson
Occupations: Biochemist, Astronaut, Research scientist.

user:cfcox18/sandbox

Early life/Background
Whitson grew up on a farm outside the town of Beaconsfield, Iowa with her sister Kathy and her parents Keith and Beth. Her parents were farmers and her decision to become an astronaut came after she watched the first moon landing on television as a child in 1969. Whitson graduated from Mount Ayr Community High School in 1978 and received a bachelor of science degree in biology and chemistry from Iowa Wesleyan College in 1981. She then went on to earn her doctorate degree in biochemistry from Rice University in 1985, and following completion of her graduate work, continued at Rice as a Robert A Welch Post-doctoral Fellow until October 1986. She is married to Clarence F. Sams.