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"Whoah! But — never mind — just keep working, just keep working. It is an incredible view, an incredible place to work, and it's the culmination of a huge team of people making it work for the astronauts who are just out there doing their jobs.”

– Sunita Williams, on a Spacewalk

Williams is the second woman of Indian descent to fly in space (Kalpana Chawla was the first). She did Expedition 14/15 and Expedition 32/33 and boarded more than 3,000 flight hours in more than 30 aircraft. Williams spent a total of 322 days in space, placing sixth on the U.S. endurance list, second for a female astronaut. With 50 hours and 40 minutes of EVA time, she is also ranked second with total cumulative spacewalk time for a female astronaut in the history of space exploration.

On August 3, 2018, Williams became one of nine astronauts assigned to the Commercial Crew mission. NASA has given her the first post-certification flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which will mark her third-longest flight to the International Space Station (ISS).

Interesting Fact About Sunita Williams

Williams initially thought he would pursue her dream of becoming a veterinarian. That route put her in the position of a shuttle designed for the International Space Station. Williams' approach to becoming an astronaut, began with her brother's proposal to join the U.S. Naval Academy.

After graduating from the Academy, Williams wanted to be a diver. She turned her attention to the flight school, but again, there were not many openings for the pilots of jets. As a result, Williams finally landed as a helicopter pilot, and her training exposed her for the first time to new opportunities with NASA.

First NASA application met with refusal

Part of her pilot school studies was a visit to the NASA Johnson Space Center, where she heard John Glenn speak. While Glenn talked about how Apollo astronauts had to learn to fly helicopters to land on the moon, Williams first thought that he might be interested in flying in space.

Therefore, she applied to become a NASA astronaut.

While her first application was met with a letter of refusal, the second acted cunningly. In an interview conducted in 2008 with Niralia Magazine online, Williams shared this encouraging message: never giving up on dreams: 

“Don’t let anyone tell you, ‘You can’t do it.’ That’s the biggest thing – I had one squad commander [tell me]: ‘Being an astronaut is for jet pilots, not for helicopter pilots.’ If you know that’s what you want, you’ve just gone to go for it. You do the best you can do at what you’re doing, and find out what you need to do to get in this field.”

Sunita Williams Spacewalk record

On April 16, 2007, Williams completed her own space race as he ran the Boston Marathon while en route to the International Space Station. It is the first time a runner has finished a race while in orbit. To stay healthy in space, astronauts living at the ISS must work. Astronauts must harness themselves to the running machine with bungee cords so that they remain grounded for the workout.

Sunita "Suni" Williams is an American astronaut and the United States Navy officer of Indian-Slovenian descent. She holds the records for total spacewalks by a woman (seven) and most spacewalk time for a woman (50 hours, 40 minutes). Williams’ spaceflight career is impressive, but her can-do attitude and humble outlook are perhaps more inspirational.