Producer: Priyanka Das Editor: Sujata Singh
Born on September 19, 1965, in Euclid, Ohio, US, Sunita Williams is the youngest daughter of Indian-American neuroanatomist Deepak Pandya and Slovene-American Ursuline Bonnie.
She graduated from Needham High School in Massachusetts in 1983. Williams received her B.Sc. degree in Physical Science from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1987. She then received her M.Sc. degree in Engineering Management from Florida Institute of Technology in 1995.
Williams received her commission as an Ensign in the United States Navy from the United States Naval Academy in May 1987.
In her military career, Williams has logged over 3,000 flight hours in over 30 different aircraft.
Selected as an astronaut by NASA in June 1998, she started training in August 1998.
Williams was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) with STS-116, aboard Space Shuttle Discovery, on December 9, 2006.
Williams became the first person to run a marathon from the space station on April 16, 2007.
She became the commander of the ISS on September 17, 2012, being only the second woman to achieve the feat.
In July 2015, NASA announced Williams as one of the first astronauts for U.S. Commercial spaceflights.
Williams has spent a cumulative total of 323 days in space, as of June 7, 2024.