Peggy Whitson, First Woman to Command the International Space Station

Carole King started playing the piano at age 4 and hasn’t stopped since. Out of college in the 1960s King was writing some of the biggest hit singles of the generation. A rich solo career followed, capped by her last tour “Welcome to My Living Room.”

American figure skater Johnny Weir is known as much for his personality as his athletic prowess and artistry. His comeback is generating significant interest leading into Vancouver. 

Jules Verne was a pioneer in literature. With a powerful interest in writing and an imagination that was ahead of his time, Verne became a dominant figure in the science fiction world, writing about ideas that often didn’t become a reality until many years later.

Charles Dickens is best remembered for novels such as “Oliver Twist” and “David Copperfield.” For his dedication to social justice, most notably his humanizing portraits of society’s lowest castes, he has been called “the conscience of Victorian England.”

American pioneer Laura Ingalls Wilder did not begin writing her first book until she was 64. Only with her daughter’s coaxing did she ultimately decide to share her story, and a beloved children’s classic, the “Little House on the Prairie” series, was born.

Some consider Ronald Reagan the greatest president in contemporary American history: under his watch, the country saw the longest period of peacetime prosperity in its history. Critics of the Reagan era, however, point to the Iran-Contra scandal and the administration’s reluctance to recognize the AIDS crisis. Regardless of how Reagan’s legacy is viewed, it is certainly an enduring one.

Oksana Domnina and Maxim Shabalin of Russia have stirred controversy and drawn international attention in recent weeks. Winners of the 2009 World Ice Dance Championships, the duo is poised for Olympic glory, but face stiff competition from an American team.

Modest, patient and undeniably talented, Roger Staubach took a long route to NFL stardom, but once there he became one of the most accomplished quarterbacks in NFL history.