Sunita Williams is an American astronaut who was a member of the Expedition 14 and 15 carried out by the International Space Station.
She served as a flight engineer in Expedition 32 and as flight commander in Expedition 34 in 2012.
She was born on September 19, 1965 to Indian scientist Deepak Pandya and Ursuline Bonnie Pandya, who is of Slovene American origin.
Her paternal ancestry is from Mehsana district in Gujarat and her mother is a Slovene emigrant.
Sunita graduated from Massachusetts with a degree in Physical Science in 1983 and gained a Master’s degree in Engineering Management from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1995.
She joined the United States Navy in May 1987 and after completing a six month assignment she was given the designation of Basic Diving Officer.
In July 1989, she joined the Naval Air Training Command to attain the title of Naval Aviator.
She was selected for the NASA astronaut programme in 1998.
For the NASA programme, Sunita received her training at the Johnsons Space Centre in 1998.
After completing the training, she worked with the Russian Space Agency and was part of missions sent by the ISS.
Her first space experience was with the STS 116 launched by the International Space Station. She went aboard the Discovery in 2006 to join crew members on Expedition 14.
During the expedition, Sunita, after many attempts, completed a spacewalk of 32 hours and 36 minutes.
In 2007, she also ran the first marathon by a person in orbit, which she completed in four hours and 24 minutes.
In April 2007, Sunita was brought back to the Earth aboard the Atlantis, during which she broke the record for single spaceflight by a woman.
In 2012, Sunita was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome as a part of the Expedition 32/33. On this mission, she was accompanied by Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malechenko.
She became the second woman to become the Commander of the International Space Station in 2012.
Also, in September 2012, she became the first person to perform a triathlon in space and completed the task in 48 minutes and 33 seconds.
She returned back to Earth in November 2012 and landed at the Arkalyk in Kazakhstan.
Till November 2012, Sunita made seven spacewalks in a total time of 50 hours and 40 minutes.
It holds the fifth position among the world’s experienced spacewalkers.
In 2007, Sunita Williams visited India and paid visits to the Sabarmati Ashram and her paternal village in Jhulasan.
She is also the first person of Indian origin but not of Indian citizenship to be awarded the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Vishwa Pratibha Award conferred by the World Gujarati Society.
She holds several records for the highest number of spacewalks by a woman, the longest spaceflight time by a woman and the maximum spacewalk time by a woman.
