WHEELING — Astronaut Peggy Whitson — the first woman to command the International Space Station — told young girls at Madison Elementary School on Tuesday that although she had never been to Mars, they may one day be able fly there.

Whitson joined U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., at the school for a “West Virginia Girls Rise Up” event to inspire the state’s future female leaders. Capito is the first woman to represent West Virginia in the U.S. Senate.

Whitson, who grew up on a farm in Iowa, told the students she had been to space and the International Space Station three times. Her first flight took place in 2002, while she was named commander for her second mission in 2008. Each of these stays lasted six months.

Her third mission began Nov. 17, 2016, while she returned 10 months later on Sept. 3. With a total of 665 days in space, Whitson holds the U.S. record, placing eighth on the all-time space endurance list, according to information provided by NASA.

Whitson also made 10 spacewalks, each lasting about eight hours in duration, she said.

She and Capito began their visit by going to classrooms and taking questions from younger female students.

“Have you ever been to Mars,” one girl asked Whitson.

“I have never been to Mars, but maybe one of you guys can do it and learn,” Whitson responded. “We need astronauts, so we need everybody to study math, science and engineering and make all kinds of cool technology things for us.”

Another student asked if she had ever seen any aliens.

“I haven’t seen any aliens yet, but I’m pretty sure we will find some eventually,” Whitson responded. “They might look very different from us. They might be microorganisms. I think we’re going to find them, and hopefully in the near future.”

Whitson and Capito asked the girls in the upper grades what they hoped to be in the future. While many said lawyers, singers, basketball players, and teachers, at least one said she wanted to be a zoologist. This pleased Capito, who holds a bachelor’s degree in zoology.

After the event, she explained she was inspired to start the “West Virginia Girls Rise Up” to mentor young females because of the comments she often hears about her father, former West Virginia Gov. Arch Moore.

Capito said there are countless people who tell her of the things Moore did for them, and how even small acts by him — such as helping a community’s baseball field — impacted lives in major ways.

After she was elected to the U.S. House in 2000, she said began to think of a way she could have a major impact on the lives of the constituents she now represented.

“I had the opportunity in a lot of big ways with legislation and leading the direction of the country,” Capito said. “But I thought about what I want my daughter to hear about me, and what kind of legacy I would like to leave.

“The legacy I thought I would like to leave is to inspire the next generation of leaders — particularly female leaders, as I am the first woman senator from the state of West Virginia.”

Capito told the girls Tuesday that in 1970, there were only 11 women among the 535 elected members of Congress.

Today there are 23 women serving in the Senate, and 84 in the House, for a total of 107 in Congress.

The visit with Capito and Whitson was a girls-only happening at Madison. Principal Andrea Trio said the boys in the school were upstairs having regular classroom time.