Needham High School
Which school did Sunita Williams go to from 1982 to 1983?
Sunita Williams Sunita Lyn Williams ( née Pandya ; born September 19 , 1965 ) is an American astronaut and United States Navy officer of Indian origin who formerly held the records for most spacewalks by a woman ( seven ) and most spacewalk time for a woman ( 50 hours , 40 minutes ) . Williams was assigned to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14 and Expedition 15 . In 2012 , she served as a flight engineer on Expedition 32 and then commander of Expedition 33 . Early life and education . Sunita Williams was born in Euclid , Ohio , to Indian American neuroanatomist Deepak Pandya and Slovene American Ursuline Bonnie ( Zalokar ) Pandya , who reside in Falmouth , Massachusetts . She is the youngest of three children . Her brother Jay Thomas is four years older and her sister Dina Annadj is three years older . Williamss paternal family is from Jhulasan in the Mehsana district in Gujarat , India , while her maternal great-grandmother Mary Bohinc ( originally Marija Bohinjec ) , born in Slovenia , immigrated to America as an 11-year-old with her mother , 1891 Slovene emigrant Ursula ( Strajhar ) Bohinac . Williams graduated from Needham High School in Needham , Massachusetts , in 1983 . She received a Bachelor of Science degree in physical science from the United States Naval Academy in 1987 , and a Master of Science degree in engineering management from Florida Institute of Technology in 1995 . Military career . Williams was commissioned an ensign in the United States Navy in 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 the Naval Air Training Command , where she was designated a Naval Aviator in July 1989 . She received initial H-46 Sea Knight training in Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 3 ( HC-3 ) , and was then assigned to Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 8 ( HC-8 ) in Norfolk , Virginia , with which she made overseas deployments to the Mediterranean , Red Sea and the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Shield and Operation Provide Comfort . In September 1992 , she was the Officer-in-Charge of an H-46 detachment sent to Miami , Florida , for Hurricane Andrew relief operations aboard . In January 1993 , Williams began training at the U.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 and V-22 chase pilot in the T-2 . Later , she was assigned as the squadron Safety Officer and flew test flights in the SH-60B/F , UH-1 , AH-1W , SH-2 , VH-3 , H-46 , CH-53 , and the H-57 . In December 1995 , she went back to the Naval Test Pilot School as an instructor in the Rotary Wing Department and as the schools Safety Officer . There she flew the UH-60 , OH-6 , and the OH-58 . She was then assigned to as the Aircraft Handler and the Assistant Air Boss . Williams was deployed on Saipan in June 1998 when she was selected by NASA for the astronaut program . She has logged more than 3,000 flight hours in more than 30 aircraft types . Career in NASA . Williams began her Astronaut Candidate training at the Johnson Space Center in August 1998 . STS-116 . Williams was launched to the International Space Station ( ISS ) with STS-116 , aboard Space Shuttle Discovery , on December 9 , 2006 , to join the Expedition 14 crew . In April 2007 , the Russian members of the crew rotated , changing to Expedition 15 . Expeditions 14 and 15 . After launching Williams arranged to donate her pony tail to Locks of Love . Fellow astronaut Joan Higginbotham cut her hair aboard the International Space Station and the ponytail was brought back to Earth by the STS-116 crew . Williams performed her first extra-vehicular activity on the eighth day of the STS-116 mission . On January 31 , February 4 , and February 9 , 2007 , she completed three spacewalks from the ISS with Michael 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 . She has logged 29 hours and 17 minutes in four spacewalks , eclipsing the record held by Kathryn C . Thornton for most spacewalk time by a woman . On December 18 , 2007 , during the fourth spacewalk of Expedition 16 , Peggy Whitson surpassed Williams , with a cumulative EVA time of 32 hours , 36 minutes . In early March 2007 , she received a tube of wasabi in a Progress spacecraft resupply mission in response to her request for more spicy food . When she opened the tube , which was packaged at one atmospheric pressure , the gel-like 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 the STS-117 mission aboard Atlantis . Although she did not break the U.S . single spaceflight record that was recently broken by former crew member Commander Michael 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 the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral forced mission managers to skip three landing attempts there over a 24-hour period . They then diverted Atlantis to Edwards Air Force Base in California , where the shuttle touched down at 3:49 p.m . EDT , returning Williams home after a 192-day stay in space . Marathon in space . On April 16 , 2007 , she ran the first marathon by any person in space . Williams was listed as an entrant for the 2007 Boston Marathon , and completed the distance in four hours and 24 minutes . The other crew members cheered her on and gave her oranges during the race . Williams sister , Dina Pandya , and fellow astronaut Karen L . Nyberg ran the marathon on Earth , and Williams received updates on their progress from Mission Control . In 2008 , Williams participated in the Boston Marathon again . Expeditions 32 and 33 . Williams was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 15 , 2012 , as part of Expedition 32/33 . Her Russian spacecraft Soyuz TMA-05M docked 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 by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA ) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko . Williams served as the commander of the ISS during her stay onboard ISS Expedition 33 , succeeding Gennady Padalka . She became the commander of the International Space Station on 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 the International Space Stations 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 time of one hour , 48 minutes and 33 seconds , as she reported . She returned to Earth with fellow astronauts Yuri Malenchenko and Akihiko Hoshide on November 19 , 2012 , touching down in the town of Arkalyk , Kazakhstan . Helicopters joined the search-and-recovery crew to assist them , as their capsule parachuted down some from the planned touchdown site due to a procedural delay . Commercial Crew program . In July 2015 , NASA announced Williams as one of the first astronauts for U.S . Commercial spaceflights . Subsequently , she has started working with Boeing and SpaceX to train in their commercial crew vehicles , along with other chosen astronauts . In August 2018 she was assigned to the first mission flight , CTS-1 , to the International Space Station of Boeing CST-100 Starliner . Spacewalks . , Sunita Williams has made seven spacewalks totaling 50 hours and 40 minutes , putting Williams eleventh on the list of most experienced spacewalkers . On August 30 , 2012 , Williams and JAXA astronaut Hoshide ventured outside the ISS to conduct US EVA-18 . They removed and replaced the failing Main Bus Switching Unit-1 ( MBSU-1 ) , and installed a thermal cover onto Pressurized Mating Adapter-2 ( PMA-2 ) . Personal life . Williams is married to Michael J . Williams , a federal police officer in Oregon . The two have been married for more than 20 years , and both flew helicopters in the early days of their careers . They reside together in suburban Houston , Texas . She had a pet Jack Russell terrier named Gorby who was featured with her on the Dog Whisperer television show on the National Geographic Channel on November 12 , 2010 . In 2012 , Williams expressed a desire to adopt a girl from Ahmedabad . In September 2007 , Williams visited the Sabarmati Ashram and her ancestral village of Jhulasan in Gujarat , India . She was awarded the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Vishwa Pratibha Award by the World Gujarati Society , the first person of Indian descent who was not an Indian citizen to be presented the award . On October 4 , 2007 , Williams spoke at the American Embassy School , and then met Manmohan Singh , the then-Prime Minister of India . In October 2014 , Williams visited Slovenia . During her stay , amongst other things , she paid a visit to the Astronomical Society Vega in Ljubljana . She visited Slovenia again in 2016 . On June 7 , 2017 , the Needham School Committee voted unanimously to name the towns new elementary school the Sunita L . Williams Elementary School . Williams was a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots . In May 2020 , Williams addressed more than 500,000 Indian and other international students in the United States in a virtual interview organized by the Student Hub at the Embassy of India , Washington , DC , during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 . Honors and awards . - Navy Commendation Medal - Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal - Humanitarian Service Medal - NASA Spaceflight Medal - Medal For Merit in Space Exploration , Government of Russia ( 2011 ) - Padma Bhushan , Government of India ( June 25 , 2008 ) - Honorary Doctorate , Gujarat Technological University ( 2013 ) - Golden Order for Merits , Government of Slovenia ( May 20 , 2013 )