WEST ALEXANDRIA — NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson is the featured speaker at Women in Aviation International's 20th anniversary conference next month. The event is scheduled Feb. 26-28 in Atlanta.

Whitson has spent 377 days in space for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration over multiple tours of duty. She is a biochemistry researcher whose space career began in 2002 with a stay aboard the International Space Station. Five years later, she served as commander of the space station — the first woman in that job — and oversaw an expansion of the station's living and working quarters.

Whitson also has done six spacewalks for a total of 39 hours, 46 minutes, more than any other woman.

Women in Aviation International is a nonprofit organization which provides networking and scholarship opportunities to support careers in aviation and aerospace.

Registration for next month's conference at the Atlanta Hyatt Regency may be done online at www.wai.org or by calling Women in Aviation at (937) 839-4647.