President Donald Trump and First Daughter Ivanka Trump are scheduled to place a 20-minute call to the International Space Station from the Oval Office at 10 a.m. EDT on Monday morning to congratulate NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson on breaking the U.S. record for most time in space.
As of Monday, Whitson had logged 534 days, two hours, and 49 minutes (and counting) away from Earth, the most ever by an American, according to NASA.
Fortune readers can watch the call here live at 10 a.m. EDT, and NASA is providing live coverage of the call through several channels:
- NASA Television: http://www.nasa.gov/live
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NASA/
- Ustream: http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv
- YouTube: https://youtu.be/UdmHHpAsMVw
The NASA App for iOS, Android, Amazon Fire and Fire TV, and Apple TV will also broadcast the call.
Whitson is currently on her third long-duration stay at the International Space Station. She launched last November and is expected to finish her mission in September. When she returns to Earth, she will have spent more than 650 days in space throughout her groundbreaking career. In 2008, Whitson became the first woman to command the space station, and on April 9 became the first woman to command it twice. In March, she claimed the record for most spacewalks by a woman. And at 57, Whitson is the oldest female astronaut.
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President Trump’s call to the ISS will come two days after thousands of protesters celebrated Earth Day by participating in the March for Science, a worldwide demonstration in support of scientific funding and research that carried by a blatant anti-Trump undercurrent.
At the March for Science on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., space exploration was a major theme. Retired NASA astronaut Leland Melvin, a veteran of two space shuttle missions (and well known for his official NASA photo featuring his two dogs), spoke to the crowd about the value of science and told the Huffington Post about how his trips into orbit play into his perspective.
“I’ve seen the planet from the vantage point of space,” he said. “It’s a beautiful planet, but there are a lot of things that are going on and, without the data, without the science, we’re going to decimate our planet. We’re also going to eradicate our civilization.”
Nancy Grace Roman, the first female executive at NASA, also appeared with scientist and television personality Bill Nye at the march in Washington.
Dr. Nancy Grace Roman, the first female executive at @NASA, appears with @BillNye at the Science March. For more: https://t.co/zW8fvpyyCM pic.twitter.com/yrDeGxaDwe
— PBS NewsHour (@NewsHour) April 22, 2017
The White House defended Trump’s record on science on Saturday, releasing a statement from the president. “Rigorous science is critical to my administration’s efforts to achieve the twin goals of economic growth and environmental protection,” Trump said. “My administration is committed to advancing scientific research that leads to a better understand of our environment and environmental risks.”
