Sunita Williams

Sunita Lyn"Suni"Williams(néePandya; born September 19, 1965) is an Americanastronaut, retiredU.S. Navyofficer, and one of themost experienced spacewalkerswith ninespacewalks(second most for a woman) and a total time of 62hours and 6minutes (fourth overall, most by a woman). Williams was assigned to theInternational Space Stationas a member ofExpedition 14andExpedition 15. In 2012, she served as aflight engineeronExpedition 32and then commander ofExpedition 33. In 2024, she returned to the ISS on theBoeing Crew Flight Test, the first crewed mission of theBoeing Starliner; her return to Earth has been delayed until March 2025 at the earliest.As such, from August 2024 until March 2025, Williams and fellow astronautButch Wilmoreare pivoting ahead to undertake various scientific experiments and maintenance tasks aboard the International Space Station.
Williams was born inEuclid, Ohio, but considersNeedham, Massachusetts, to be her hometown.Her father,Deepak Pandya, was anIndian-AmericanneuroanatomistfromMehsana district, Gujarat, while her mother, Ursuline Bonnie Pandya (née Zalokar) was aSlovene-American. Her parents resided inFalmouth, Massachusetts. She is the youngest of three children. Her brother, Jay Thomas, is four years older and her sister, Dina Annad, is three years older. Williams's paternal family is fromJhulasanin the Mehsana districtwhereas her maternal family is ofSlovenedescent.Williams has taken theSlovenian flag,asamosaandCarniolan sausageto space in celebration of her Indian and Slovenian heritage.Her nicknames are Suni in the United Statesand Sončka in Slovenia.
Williams graduated fromNeedham High Schoolin 1983.She received aBachelor of Sciencedegree inphysical sciencefrom theUnited States Naval Academyin 1987, and aMaster of Sciencedegree inengineering managementfromFlorida Institute of Technologyin 1995.
Williams was commissioned an ensign in theU.S. Navyin May 1987. After a six-month temporary assignment at the Naval Coastal System Command, she was designated a Basic Diving Officer. She next reported to theNaval Air Training Command, where she was designated aNaval Aviatorin July 1989. She received initialH-46 Sea Knighttraining in Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 3 (HC-3), and was then assigned to Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 8 (HC-8) inNorfolk, Virginia, with which she made overseas deployments to the Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Persian Gulf forOperation Desert ShieldandOperation Provide Comfort. In September 1992, she was the officer-in-charge of an H-46 detachment sent to Miami, Florida, forHurricane Andrewrelief operations aboardUSSSylvania. In January 1993, Williams began training at theU.S. Naval Test Pilot School. She graduated in December, and was assigned to the Rotary Wing Aircraft Test Directorate as an H-46 Project Officer andV-22chase pilot in theT-2. Later, she was assigned as the squadron Safety Officer and flew test flights in theSH-60B/F,UH-1,AH-1W,SH-2,VH-3, H-46,CH-53, andH-57.
In December 1995, she went back to the Naval Test Pilot School as an instructor in the Rotary Wing Department and as the school's Safety Officer. There she flew theUH-60,OH-6, and theOH-58. She was then assigned toUSSSaipanas theAircraft Handlerand the Assistant Air Boss. Williams was deployed onSaipanin June 1998 when she was selected byNASAfor the astronaut program.She has logged more than 3,000 flight hours in more than 30 aircraft types.Williams retired from the Navy in 2017.
Williams began her astronaut candidate training at theJohnson Space Centerin August 1998.
Williams was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) withSTS-116, aboard Space ShuttleDiscovery, on December 9, 2006, to join theExpedition 14crew. In April 2007, the Russian members of the crew rotated, changing toExpedition 15.
After launch, Williams arranged to donate herponytailtoLocks of Love. Fellow astronautJoan Higginbothamcut her hair aboard the International Space Station and it was brought back to Earth by theSTS-116crew.Williams performed her firstextra-vehicular activityon the eighth day of the STS-116 mission. On January 31, February 4, and February 9, 2007, she completed three spacewalks from the ISS withMichael López-Alegría. During one of these walks, a camera became untethered, probably because the attaching device failed, and floated off to space before Williams could react.
On the third spacewalk, Williams was outside the station for 6 hours and 40 minutes to complete three spacewalks in nine days. By 2007, she had logged 29 hours and 17 minutes in four spacewalks, eclipsing the record previously held byKathryn C. Thorntonfor most spacewalk time by a woman.On December 18, 2007, during the fourthspacewalkofExpedition 16,Peggy Whitsonsurpassed Williams, with a cumulative EVA time of 32 hours, 36 minutes.In early March 2007, she received a tube ofwasabiin aProgress spacecraftresupply mission in response to her request for more spicy food. When she opened the tube, which was packed at one atmospheric pressure, the paste was forced out in the lower pressure of the ISS. In the free-fall environment, the spicy geyser was difficult to contain.
On April 26, 2007, NASA decided to bring Williams back to Earth on theSTS-117mission aboardAtlantis. Although she did not break the U.S. single spaceflight record—recently set by López-Alegría—she did break the record for longest single spaceflight by a woman.Williams served as a mission specialist and returned to Earth on June 22, 2007, at the end of the STS-117 mission. Poor weather at theKennedy Space CenterinCape Canaveralforced mission managers to skip three landing attempts there over 24 hours. They ultimately divertedAtlantistoEdwards Air Force Basein California, where the shuttle touched down at 3:49 p.m.EDT, returning Williams home after a 192-day stay in space.
On April 16, 2007, she ran the first marathon by any person in space.Williams was listed as an entrant for the 2007Boston Marathon, and completed the distance in 4 hours and 24 minutes.The other crew members cheered her on and gave her oranges during the race. Williams's sister, Dina Pandya and fellow astronautKaren L. Nybergran the marathon on Earth, and Williams received updates on their progress from Mission Control. In 2008, Williams participated in the Boston Marathon again.
Williams was launched from theBaikonur Cosmodromeon July 15, 2012, as part ofExpedition 32/33. Her Russian spacecraftSoyuz TMA-05Mdocked with the ISS for a four-month stay at the orbiting outpost on July 17, 2012.The docking of the Soyuz spacecraft occurred at 4:51 GMT as the ISS flew over Kazakhstan at an altitude of 252 miles. The hatchway between the Soyuz spacecraft and the ISS was opened at 7:23 GMT and Williams floated into the ISS to begin her duties as a member of the Expedition 32 crew. On the Soyuz spacecraft, she was accompanied byJapan Aerospace Exploration Agency(JAXA) astronautAkihiko Hoshideand RussiancosmonautYuri Malenchenko. Williams served as the commander of the ISS during her stay onboard ISS Expedition 33, succeedingGennady Padalka.She became the commander of theInternational Space Stationon September 17, 2012, being only the second woman to achieve the feat.Also in September 2012, she became the first person to do a triathlon in space, which coincided with the Nautica Malibu Triathlon held in Southern California.She used theInternational Space Station's own treadmill and stationary bike, and for the swimming portion of the race, she used the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) to do weightlifting and resistance exercises that approximate swimming in microgravity. After swimming half a mile (0.8 km), biking 18 miles (29 km), and running 4 miles (6.4 km), Williams finished with a self-reported time of one hour, 48 minutes and 33 seconds.
She returned to Earth with fellow astronautsYuri MalenchenkoandAkihiko Hoshideon November 19, 2012. A procedural delay led the capsule to land in the town ofArkalyk, Kazakhstan, some 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the planned touchdown site.
In July 2015, NASA announced Williams as one of the first astronauts forU.S. commercial spaceflights.Subsequently, she began working withBoeingandSpaceXto train in their commercial crew vehicles, along with other chosen astronauts. In August 2018 she was assigned to the first operational mission flight (Starliner-1) to theInternational Space StationofBoeing CST-100 Starliner.On April 18, 2022, NASA said that it had not yet finalized which of the cadre of Starliner astronauts, includingBarry Wilmore,Michael Fincke, and Williams, would fly on theBoeing Crew Flight Test(CFT) mission or the first operational Starliner mission.On June 16, 2022, NASA confirmed that CFT would be a two-person mission, consisting of Wilmore and Williams.On June 5, 2024, Williams became the first woman to fly on a flight test of an orbital spacecraft when the Starliner launched to orbit with Williams as the spacecraft's pilot.
As of 29 January 2025, she remains on the ISS space station with fellow astronautBarry Wilmoredue to technical issues with the Boeing Starliner's service module; both are scheduled to return on SpaceX's Crew 9 mission when it concludes in March 2025 (Crew 9 was launched in September 2024, with two vacant seats to accommodate Williams and Wilmore's return). This represents a significantly longer deployment than their original trip which was planned for a duration of eight days. Before this mission, Sunita was not in the top 50 of the time-in-space statistics.  On August 24, 2024, she became among the top 30 and is expected to be among the top 12 in time-in-space duration when she returns in 2025.
In September 2024, Williams took command of theISSfor the second time in her career, which she will hold until her return in 2025.
As of January 2025, Sunita Williams had made nine spacewalks totaling 62 hours and 6 minutes, at the time putting Williams number one for a woman and fourth overall on thelist of most experienced spacewalkers.
Williams has been married to Michael J. Williams, afederal marshalinTexasfor more than 20 years,and both flewhelicoptersearly in their careers. They reside in suburbanHouston, Texas. She had a petJack Russell terriernamed Gorby who was featured with her on theDog Whisperertelevision show on theNational Geographic Channelon November 12, 2010.In 2012, Williams expressed a desire to adopt a girl fromAhmedabad.
Williams practicesHinduism. In December 2006, she took a copy of theBhagavad Gitato theInternational Space Station. In July 2012, she took a symbolOmand a copy of theUpanishads.In September 2007, Williams visited theSabarmati Ashramand her ancestral village of Jhulasan. She was awarded theSardar Vallabhbhai PatelVishwa Pratibha Award by the World Gujarati Society,the firstperson of Indian descentwho was not an Indian citizen to be presented the award. On October 4, 2007, Williams spoke at theAmerican Embassy School, and then metManmohan Singh, the then-Prime Minister of India.
Williams has also visited Slovenia several times.In 2009, the clubSlovenian Astronaut(Slovenski astronavt) arranged amemorial roomfor her inLeše, Tržič, northwestern Slovenia.Leše was the birthplace of her great-grandmother Marija Bohinjec, born in 1891, who immigrated to the United States as an 11-year-old in 1900 or 1901.In May 2013, the former President of SloveniaBorut Pahorawarded Williams amedal of meritfor her contribution to the popularisation ofscience and technologyamong the Slovenian youth.During her stay in October 2014 she paid a visit to the Astronomical Society Vega inLjubljana.She visited Slovenia again in 2016.
In June 2017, theNeedhamPublic Schools committee voted to name the town's new elementary school after Williams.In May 2020, Williams addressed more than 500,000Indianand otherinternational students in the United Statesin a virtual interview organized by the Student Hub at theEmbassy of India, Washington, D.C., during theCOVID-19 pandemic of 2020.
Williams was a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Society of Flight Test Engineers, American Helicopter Association.
This article incorporatespublic domain materialfrom websites or documents of theNational Aeronautics and Space Administration.