Sunita Williams Age, Husband, Children, Family, Biography

Bio/Wiki
Birth name	Sunita Lyn Pandya
Full name	Sunita Lyn Williams
Nickname	Suni
Profession(s)	Navy Officer, Astronaut
Famous for	Being the second American woman with an Indian heritage to fly to space
Physical Stats & More
Height (approx.)	5' 8" (173 cm)
Weight (approx.)	in kilograms- 65 kg in pounds- 143 lbs
Eye Colour	Hazel Brown
Hair Colour	Black
Military Service
Service/Branch	United States Navy
Rank	Captain
Service Years	May 1987-present
Stream	Naval Aviation
NASA Career
Service Years	June 1998-present
Missions with designation	• Flight engineer on Expeditions 14/15 with STS-116 (9 December 2006 - 22 June 2007) • Flight engineer and commander on Expedition 32/33 with Soyuz TMA-05M (14 July 2012 - 18 November 2012) • Test pilots on Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT) mission (April 2024) • ISS Commander and flight engineer of STS-116 mission (September 2024)
Awards, Honours, Achievements	• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Vishwa Pratibha Award (2007) • Padma Bhushan, Government of India (2008) • Medal “For Merit in Space Exploration,” Government of Russia (2011) • Honorary Doctorate, Gujarat Logical University (2013) • Golden Order for Merits, Government of Slovenia (2013) • ASEF Lifetime Achievement Award (2020) • Navy Commendation medal (twice) • Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal • Humanitarian Service Medal • National Defense Service Medal • NASA Spaceflight Medal • Legion of Merit • DSSM (twice)
Personal Life
Date of Birth	19 September 1965 (Sunday)
Age (as of 2024)	59 Years
Birthplace	Euclid, Ohio, USA
Zodiac sign	Virgo
Signature
Nationality	American
Hometown	Needham, Massachusetts, USA
School	Needham High School, Needham, Massachusetts (1983)
College/University	• United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland • Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida
Educational Qualification(s)	• Bachelor’s degree in physical science from the United States Naval Academy (1987) • M.S. in engineering management from the Florida Institute of Technology (1995)
Religion	Hinduism [1]The Times of India
Food Habit	Non-vegetarian
Hobbies	Running, Swimming, Biking, Triathlons, Windsurfing, Snowboarding, Bow hunting
Tattoo(s)	On her left forearm; Tattoos of paws
Relationships & More
Marital Status	Married
Affairs/Boyfriends	Michael J. Williams (federal police officer)
Family
Husband/Spouse	Michael J. Williams (federal police officer)
Parents	Father- Deepak Pandya (deceased) (Neuroanatomist) Mother- Bonnie (Zalokar) Pandya (Entrepreneurship Co-ordinator at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA)
Siblings	Brother- Jay Thomas (Works at Johns Hopkins Medicine International) Sister- Dina Pandya (Worked at Woods Hole Oceanographic Inst.)
Favourites
Snack	Samosa
Sweets	Sukhdi and magas na laadu (Gujarati Sweets)
Subject	Science
Sport	Swimming
Baseball Team	Boston Red Sox

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sunita Williams

• Sunita Williams’ paternal family belongs to Jhulasan village in the Mehsana district in Gujarat, India.

•  She enjoyed athletic activities as a child and participated in long-distance swimming competitions in both high school and college.
  

  Sunita Williams (second from left) at a swimming competition

• Sunita Williams met Michael J. Williams at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1987. The couple dated for a while before marrying each other.

• After graduating as a Naval Test pilot in December 1993, she flew 30 different aircraft and logged more than 2,770 hours as a test pilot instructor.
  

  Sunita Williams in USNA, class of 87

• She received training in robotics and other ISS operational technologies in Moscow while working with the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) in 1998.

• She is the former record holder for most spacewalks by a woman which is seven.

• Williams has three dogs named Gunner, Bailey, and Rotor and many chickens. On 12 November 2010, her pet Jack Russell Terrier ‘Gorby’ (deceased) appeared on the “Dog Whisperer” television show on the National Geographic Channel.
  

  Sunita Williams with her dog Gorby

• She participated in the Boston Marathon and ran 42.2 km (26.2 miles) on the space treadmill at ISS in 2007.

• Sunita Williams’ mother, Bonnie Pandya, wrote a book about her dog Gorby, who died while she was in space.

• Williams carried a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a small figurine of the Hindu deity Ganesha, and some samosas on Expeditions 14 and 15 in 2006.

• Sunita Williams donated her ponytail to the Locks of Love (a non-profit organisation) while she was aboard Expedition 14 and 15; the ponytail was brought back to earth by the STS-116 crew.

• In September 2007, she was awarded the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Vishwa Pratibha Award by the World Gujarati Society, making her the first person of Indian origin who is not an Indian citizen to be given this award. She also visited her ancestral village, Jhulsana, Gujarat during this trip.

• She carried a small painting of Lord Shiva on Expedition 32/33 in 2012.

• Amul, an Indian MNC, created a special ad to celebrate Sunita Williams’ return to Earth after 4 months in space in 2012.
  

  Amul’s ad for Sunita William

• She took part in the triathlon held at the Nautica Malibu Triathlon in Southern California from space in 2012. She swam half a mile, ran 4 miles, and cycled for 8 miles, using equipment such as a stationary bike, treadmill, and strength resistance training machine.

• A school was built and named after her in 2019, replacing the aged-out Hillside Elementary School, which Williams attended as a kid in Needham, Massachusetts, USA.
  

  Sunita Williams attending the dedication ceremony for her namesake school in Needham, Massachusetts

• She is a member of many organisations including the Society of Experimental, Test Pilots Society of Flight Test Engineers, and the American Helicopter Association.

• Sunita Williams holds the record for a total spacewalk of 50 hours and 40 minutes by a woman. She also ranks 8th on the list of most experienced spacewalkers.

• Sunita Williams attended the prestigious state dinner in Washington, DC, hosted by US President Joe Biden in honour of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2023, where she met other esteemed guests like Anand Mahindra, Mukesh Ambani, and Vrinda Kapoor.

I suppose this was what they would call a ‘Washington moment.’ After the tech handshake meeting yesterday, Mukesh Ambani, Vrinda Kapoor & I were continuing a conversation with the Secretary of Commerce & missed the group shuttle bus to the next lunch engagement. We were trying… pic.twitter.com/gP1pZl9VcI

— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) June 25, 2023

• After several years of delay of Boeing’s Starliner first crewed space mission, it was reported that the mission would be launched in June 2024, and Sunita Williams would fly into space for a third time. Butch Wilmore was also reported to accompany Williams on Boeing’s Starliner spaceship.

• On 6 June 2024, she became the first woman to pilot and test a new crewed spacecraft on its first journey. After arriving at the International Space Station (ISS), she celebrated her third trip to the ISS with a joyful dance.
  

• Her return to Earth scheduled on 13 June 2024, was delayed due to a leak (helium leak) in the Starliner rocket. She was stranded at the International Space Station along with her colleague Butch Wilmore.

• In November 2024, a photo of her went viral on the internet, revealing that she had lost a significant amount of body mass. According to sources, her mission on the International Space Station (ISS) was originally intended to last for three months. However, due to technical glitches on board the ISS, she ended up spending more than six months there by November 2024.
  

  A photo of Sunita Williams released by NASA which sparked a debate on her reduced body mass