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First woman to command the International Space Station

First woman to command the International Space Station
Who
Peggy Whitson
What
First
Where
Not Applicable
When
10 October 2007

The first woman to serve as the commander of the International Space Station (ISS) was NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson (USA). She took over as commander at the beginning of Expedition 16 on 10 October 2007, and remained in the position for 181 days before handing over to Russian cosmonaut Sergey Volkov on 8 April 2008.

The space station commander is ground control's point of contact on the space station, and is responsible for coordinating the activities of the crew, particularly when it comes to station maintenance and operational safety. The position rotates between astronauts/cosmonauts from the various space agencies involved in the ISS program.

Peggy Whitson returned as ISS commander for Expedition 51 in 9 April 2017.