Iowa "farm girl" skills helped astronaut

Iowa native Peggy Whitson says being a farm kid helped prepare her for service as science officer on the International Space station. Her ag skills included keeping watch over soybeans grown in the weightless conditions of the orbiting station during her six-month tour of duty there. Whitson was pleased to have had the chance to go on the space-station mission, and says she’ll remember it forever. Though she may wish for home movies, Whitson says while spending months orbiting the earth, the crew had many comforts of home…including the occasional night at the cinema. Whitson says when she was doing things like installing shields outside the station during space-walk, she used skills honed on the family farm near Mount Ayr. The astronaut and Iowa farm girl plans to come home several times during January to visit and speak at schools in the state.