Sunita Williams

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This article documents a person who is currently in space.
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**Sunita Williams**
Astronaut

Nationality	American
Born	September 19, 1965 Euclid, Ohio
Occupation¹	Test pilot
Rank	Commander, USN
Space time	Currently in orbit
Selection	1998 NASA Group
Mission(s)	STS-116, Expedition 14
Mission insignia
¹ previous or current

Sunita Lyn "Suni" Williams, born September 19, 1965 in Euclid, Ohio, is a NASA astronaut. She is currently assigned to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14. Williams is the second woman of Indian heritage to have been selected by NASA for a space mission after Kalpana Chawla. She holds the records for number of space walks and total time spent on spacewalks by a woman: four space walks for a total of 29 hours and 17 minutes.^[1]

1 Personal
2 Education
3 Organizations
4 Special honors
5 NASA experience
6 See also
7 External links
8 References

[edit] Personal

Williams considers Needham, Massachusetts to be her hometown. She is married to Michael J. Williams, and has a pet Jack Russell Terrier named Gorby. Her recreational interests include running, swimming, biking, triathlons, windsurfing, snowboarding and bow hunting. Her parents are Deepak Pandya and Bonnie Pandya, who reside in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Dr. Deepak Pandya is a famous neuroanatomist. Williams' roots go back to Gujarat in India and she has been to India to visit her father's family. She is of Slovenian descent from her mother's side.^[2]

Among the personal items Williams took with her to the ISS are a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a small statue of Ganesha and some samosas.[1]

After launching aboard Discovery, Williams arranged to donate her pony tail to Locks of Love. The haircut by fellow astronaut Joan Higginbotham occurred aboard the International Space Station and the ponytail was brought back to earth with the STS-116 crew.^[3]

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. Opening 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.^[4]

In late March, she received attention for her statement that she would run the Boston Marathon in space, using a treadmill. ^[5]

[edit] Education

Needham High School, Needham, Massachusetts, 1983.
B.S., Physical Science, U.S. Naval Academy, 1987.
M.S., Engineering Management, Florida Institute of Technology, 1995.

[edit] Organizations

Society of Experimental Test Pilots
Society of Flight Test Engineers
American Helicopter Association

[edit] Special honors

Navy Commendation Medal (twice)
Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal
Humanitarian Service Medal and various other service awards

[edit] NASA experience

Selected by NASA in June 1998, Williams began her training in August 1998. Her Astronaut Candidate training included orientation briefings and tours, numerous scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle and International Space Station systems, physiological training and ground school to prepare for T-38 flight training, as well as learning water and wilderness survival techniques. Following a period of training and evaluation, Williams worked in Moscow with the Russian Space Agency on the Russian contribution to the International Space Station (ISS), and with the first expedition crew sent to the ISS. Following the return of Expedition 1, Williams worked within the Robotics branch on the ISS Robotic Arm and the related Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator. She was a crewmember on the NEEMO 2 mission, living underwater in the Aquarius habitat for nine days in May 2002.

Currently she is a flight engineer with the Expedition 14 crew on the International Space Station. She was launched on the Space Shuttle mission STS-116, aboard the shuttle Discovery, on 10 December 2006 at 01:47 GMT.

Williams performed her first extra-vehicular activity on the eighth day of the STS-116 mission.[2] On 31 January, 4 February, and February 9, 2007 she completed three spacewalks from the ISS with Michael Lopez-Alegria. During one of these walks a camera became untethered, probably due to failure of the attaching device, and floated off to space, before Williams could react.[3]

On the third spacewalk, Williams was in space for six hours, and 40 minutes to complete an unprecedented three space walks in nine days. She has logged 29 hours and 17 minutes in four space walks, eclipsing the record held by Kathryn C. Thornton for most spacewalk time by a woman.[4]

By the end of her current duty tour, Williams will hold the NASA astronaut record for longest time in space, a record currently held by Michael Foale. [5]^[6]