2. INTRODUCTION
Sunit a Williams (born Sunit a Pandya
Krishna; Sept ember 19, 1965) is an
American ast ronaut and a Unit ed
St at es Navy of f icer who holds t he
record f or longest space f light by a
woman.
She was assigned t o t he I nt ernat ional
Space St at ion as a member of
3. I n 2012, she served as a f light
engineer on Expedit ion 32 and
t hen commander of Expedit ion
33.
I n addit ion t o holding t he
record f or t he longest space
f light t ime among f emale space
t ravelers (195 days, not
count ing her ongoing 2012
mission),
4.
5. ACHIVEMENTS
Williams f irst broke t he t wo spacewalk
records f or women space t ravellers-most
number of spacewalks, and most spacewalk
t ime—during Expedit ion 14/ 15 in 2007, but
bot h records were surpassed by Peggy
Whit son during Expedit ion 16.
Williams regained bot h records during her
sixt h spacewalk, on Sept ember 5, 2012, and
current ly has 44 hours of spacewalk t ime.
6. EARLY LIFE
Sunit a Williams was born in Euclid, Ohio t o
Deepak Pandya and Bonnie Pandya, who reside
in Falmout h, Massachuset t s.
Deepak Pandya is a well-known
neuroanat omist . Williams’ pat ernal ancest ry
originat es in Guj arat in I ndia, and t hat of her
mot her in Slovenia.
7. Williams at t ended Needham High
School in Needham,
Massachuset t s, graduat ing in
1983. She went on t o receive a
Bachelor of Science degree in
Physical science f rom t he Unit ed
St at es Naval Academy in 1987,
and a Mast er of Science degree in
Engineering Management f rom
Florida I nst it ut e of Technology in
1995.
8. NASA CAREER
Ast ronaut sunit a L. Williams, Expedit ion
14 f light engineer, part icipat es in t he
mission' s t hird planned session of
ext ravehicular act ivit y (EVA).
Select ed by NASA in J une 1998, Williams
began her t raining at t he J ohnson Space
Cent er in August 1998.
Her Ast ronaut Candidat e t raining
included orient at ion brief ings and t ours,
numerous scient if ic and t echnical
brief ings, int ensive inst ruct ion in Space
Shut t le
9. SPACEFLIGHT EXPERIANCESPACEFLIGHT EXPERIANCE
Williams was launched t o t he I nt ernat ional
Space St at ion (I SS) wit hSTS-116, aboar d t he
Space Shut t le Discovery, on December 9, 2006, t o
j oin t he Expedit ion 14 crew.
On t he t hir d spacewalk, Williams was out side
t he st at ion f or 6 hour s and 40 minut es t o
complet e t hree spacewalks in nine days.
She has logged 29 hour s and 17
minut es in f our spacewalks, eclipsing t he r ecor d
held by Kat hryn C. Thornt on f or most spacewalk
t ime by a woman.
10. First Marathon in Space
• On April 16, 2007, she ran t he f irst
marat hon by any person in
space. Williams f inished t he
2007 Bost on Marat hon in f our hours
and 24 minut es.
11. Spacewalks
•As of March 2016, Williams has made
seven spacewalks t ot alling 50 hours and
40 minut es, put t ing Williams in No. 7 on
t he list of most experienced
spacewalkers.
12. ORGANISATION
Societ y of Experiment al Test Pilot s
Societ y of Flight Test Engineers
American Helicopt er Associat ion
13. Navy Commendat ion Medal
Navy and Marine Corps Achievement
Medal
Humanit arian Service Medal
Medal "For Merit in Space
Explorat ion , Government of Russia
Nat ional Def ense Service Medal
NASA Space Flight Medal
Padma Bhussan , Government of I ndia
Honorary Doct orat e , Guj arat
Technological Universit y
Golden order of merit s , Government of
Honors and awards