Kathryn P . Hire Kathryn Patricia " Kay " Hire ( born August 26 , 1959 , Mobile , Alabama ) is a NASA astronaut and Captain in the U . S . Navy Reserve who has flown aboard two Space Shuttle missions . Personal data . She enjoys competitive sailing , snow skiing , scuba diving , and fishing . Experience . Navy experience . After earning her Naval Flight Officer wings in October 1982 , Hire conducted worldwide airborne oceanographic research missions with Oceanographic Development Squadron Eight ( VXN - 8 ) based at NAS Patuxent River , Maryland . She flew as Oceanographic Project Coordinator , Mission Commander and Detachment Officer - in - Charge on board specially configured RP - 3A and RP - 3D Orion aircraft . Hire later instructed student naval flight officers while assigned to Naval Air Training Unit Mather ( NAVAIRTU Mather ) , a tenant command associated with the 323d Flying Training Wing at Mather Air Force Base , California . While assigned to NAVAIRTU Mather , Hire progressed from Navigation Instructor and Course Manager to Curriculum Manager while concurrently assigned as a navigator flight instructor in the USAF T - 43A aircraft . In January 1989 , Hire resigned her Regular Navy commission and left active duty , accepting a Reserve commission and joining the Naval Reserve at NAS Jacksonville , Florida . Her initial tours of duty included Patrol Squadron Augment Unit VP - 0545 and Anti - Submarine Warfare Operations Center 0574 and 0374 . Following the repeal of the Title 10 U . S . C . combat aircraft restriction for female military aviators in 1993 , Hire was the first female in the U . S . military assigned to a combat aircrew , reporting to Patrol Squadron Sixty - Two ( VP - 62 ) on May 13 , 1993 as a Navigator / Communicator flying the P - 3C Update III Orion maritime patrol aircraft . VP - 62 was also based at NAS Jacksonville and Hire routinely deployed for flight operations throughout the North Atlantic , Europe and the Caribbean . Hire later served with Detachment 0482 , Tactical Support Center 0682 , U . S . Seventh Fleet Detachment 111 , and U . S . Naval Forces Central Command Detachment 108 . Recalled to full - time active military duty from 2001 to 2003 , Hire supported Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom as a member of the Headquarters , U . S . Central Command Current Operations and Joint Operations Center ( JOC ) staffs at MacDill AFB , Florida during Operation Enduring Freedom , followed by reassignment to the U . S . Naval Forces Central Command / U . S . Fifth Fleet staff for Operation Iraqi Freedom . She was promoted to her current rank of Captain in the U . S . Navy on December 1 , 2002 . NASA experience . Hire began work at the Kennedy Space Center in May 1989 , first as an Orbiter Processing Facility 3 Activation Engineer and later as a Space Shuttle Orbiter Mechanical Systems Engineer for Lockheed Space Operations Company . In 1991 she was certified as a Space Shuttle Test Project Engineer ( TPE ) and headed the checkout of the Extravehicular Mobility Unit s ( spacesuits ) and Russian Orbiter Docking System . She was assigned as Supervisor of Space Shuttle Orbiter Mechanisms and Launch Pad Swing Arms in 1994 . Selected by NASA in December 1994 , Hire reported to the Johnson Space Center in March 1995 . After a year of training , she worked in mission control as a spacecraft communicator ( CAPCOM ) . Hire flew as Mission Specialist - 2 on STS - 90 Neurolab ( 1998 ) and logged over 381 hours in space . She served as the Astronaut Office Lead for Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory ( SAIL ) , Shuttle Payloads , and Flight Crew Equipment . Hire was assigned to the Astronaut Support Personnel ( ASP ) team for Kennedy Space Center Operations . She then journeyed to the International Space Station as a Mission Specialist for Space Shuttle mission STS - 130 . Space flight experience . STS - 90 Neurolab ( April 17 – May 3 , 1998 ) . During the 16 - day Spacelab flight , the seven - member crew aboard Space Shuttle " Columbia " served as both experimental subjects and operators for 26 life science experiments focusing on the effects of microgravity on the brain and nervous system . The STS - 90 flight orbited the Earth 256 times , and covered 6 . 3 million miles . STS - 130 She also journeyed to the International Space Station as a Mission Specialist for Space Shuttle mission STS - 130 .