Farm-girl ingenuity can take you far in life, even as far as outside the Earth’s orbit, said former NASA astronaut and Iowa native Dr. Peggy Whitson last week in Des Moines.

Whitson, the keynote speaker at Iowa Farm Bureau’s 100th annual meeting, said the lessons she learned growing up on an Iowa farm taught her the resilience and adaptability she needed to become a record-breaking U.S. astronaut.

“Set your goals high, but enjoy the journey of getting there,” Whitson told Farm Bureau members, after they greeted her with a standing ovation for her record-breaking accomplishments.

From Iowa farm to space

Whitson completed her third and final space mission in September 2017. She is the first woman to command the International Space Station twice. She achieved the most spacewalks of any female...