36 Facts About Sunita Williams

Sunita Lyn "Suni" Williams is an American astronaut and a retired US Navy officer.

Sunita Williams is one of the most experienced spacewalkers in the world: her nine spacewalks are second-most by a woman, and her total spacewalk time of 62hours and 6minutes is fourth overall and the most by a woman.

Sunita Williams was born in Euclid, Ohio, but considers Needham, Massachusetts, to be her hometown.

Sunita Williams's father, Deepak Pandya, was an Indian-American neuroanatomist from Mehsana district, Gujarat, while her mother, Ursuline Bonnie Pandya was a Slovene American.

Sunita Williams has taken the Slovenian flag, a samosa and Carniolan sausage to space in celebration of her Indian and Slovenian heritage.

Sunita Williams's nicknames are Suni in the United States and Soncka in Slovenia.

Sunita Williams 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.

Sunita Williams was commissioned an ensign in the US Navy in May 1987.

Sunita Williams next reported to the Naval Air Training Command, where she was designated a Naval Aviator in July 1989.

Sunita Williams received initial H-46 Sea Knight training in Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 3, and was then assigned to Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 8 in Norfolk, Virginia, with which she made overseas deployments to the Mediterranean, Red Sea, and Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Shield and Operation Provide Comfort.

In January 1993, Sunita Williams began training at the US Naval Test Pilot School.

Sunita Williams was deployed on Saipan in June 1998 when she was selected by NASA for the astronaut program.

Sunita Williams has logged more than 3,000 flight hours in more than 30 aircraft types.

Sunita Williams began her astronaut candidate training at the Johnson Space Center in August 1998.

Sunita Williams was launched to the International Space Station with STS-116, aboard Space Shuttle Discovery, on December 9,2006, to join the Expedition 14 crew.

Sunita Williams performed her first extra-vehicular activity on the eighth day of the STS-116 mission.

Sunita Williams served as a mission specialist and returned to Earth on June 22,2007, at the end of the STS-117 mission.

Sunita Williams was listed as an entrant for the 2007 Boston Marathon, and completed the distance in 4 hours and 24 minutes.

Williams's sister, Dina Pandya and fellow astronaut Karen L Nyberg ran the marathon on Earth, and Williams received updates on their progress from Mission Control.

The hatchway between the Soyuz spacecraft and the ISS was opened at 7:23 GMT and Sunita Williams floated into the ISS to begin her duties as a member of the Expedition 32 crew.

Sunita Williams served as the commander of the ISS during her stay onboard ISS Expedition 33, succeeding Gennady Padalka.

Sunita Williams became the commander of the International Space Station on September 17,2012, being only the second woman to achieve the feat.

Sunita Williams used the International Space Station's own treadmill and stationary bike, and for the swimming portion of the race, she used the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device to do weightlifting and resistance exercises that approximate swimming in microgravity.

Sunita Williams returned to Earth with fellow astronauts Yuri Malenchenko and Akihiko Hoshide on November 19,2012.

Sunita Williams began working with Boeing and SpaceX to train in their commercial crew vehicles, along with other chosen astronauts.

In September 2024, Sunita Williams took command of the ISS for the second time in her career.

Sunita Williams handed over command of the space station to Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin during a ceremony on March 7,2025.

In 2024, Sunita Williams returned to the ISS on the Boeing Crew Flight Test, the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner.

Sunita Williams returned to Earth with the other crew members of Crew-9, landing safely in the Gulf of Mexico near Tallahassee, Florida, on March 18,2025.

Sunita Williams 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, Sunita Williams expressed a desire to adopt a girl from Ahmedabad.

In September 2007, Sunita Williams visited the Sabarmati Ashram and her ancestral village of Jhulasan.

Sunita Williams 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, Sunita Williams spoke at the American Embassy School, and then met Manmohan Singh, the then Prime Minister of India.

In May 2020, Sunita 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.

Sunita Williams was a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, the Society of Flight Test Engineers, and the American Helicopter Association.