|
 Sunita
Lyn Williams is a NASA astronaut and a United States Naval officer. She was
born on September 19, 1965 to Dr. Deepak Pandya and Bonnie Pandya. Her
father is a neuroanatomist.
Sunita finished her schooling from the Needham
High School, Massachusetts in 1983. She graduated with Bachelor of Science
degree in Physical Science from the US Naval Academy in 1987 and a Master of
Science degree in Engineering Management from Florida Institute of
Technology in 1995.
Sunita received her commission as an ensign in
the US Navy from the US Naval Academy in May 1987. She was designated as a
Naval Aviator in 1989 and graduated from the Naval Test Pilot School in
1993.
Sunita was selected by NASA in June 1998. Her
training began in August 1998. She was launched to the International Space
Station (ISS) to join the Expedition 14 crew with STS-116, a Space Shuttle
mission flown by Space Shuttle Discovery on December 10, 2006. She performed
her first extra vehicular activity, the work done by an astronaut away from
the Earth and outside of a spacecraft on the eight day of the STS-116
mission. She holds three records as a female space traveler which are
longest spaceflight (195 days), most number of spacewalks (four) and total
time spent on spacewalks (29 hours and 17 minutes).
Sunita returned to the Earth on the STS -117 mission aboard space shuttle
Atlantis on April 26, 2007. She was chosen as “Person of The Week” by the
ABC Television Network in U.S.
Sunita visited India in September 2007 and became the first Non-Resident
Indian to be honored with Sardar Valllabhbhai Patel Pratibha Award by World
Gujarati Society. She visited her ancestral village Jhulasan in Gujarat. She
was felicitated by the Indian President Pratibha Patil at Rashtrapati Bhavan
on October 04, 2007.
Sunita is married to Michael J. Williams, a Federal Police Officer in
Oregon. |
[
[ 
