Dharitri Ganguly
Born September 19, 1965 in Euclid, Ohio to Indian origin father Dr Deepak and Bonnie Pandya, Sunita considers Needham, Massachusetts to be her hometown. Sunita and her husband Michael enjoy hanging out with their dogs, working out, working on houses, cars, airplanes, and hiking and camping
Sunita has a Bachelor's degree in Physical Science from the US Naval Academy and a Master’s degree in Engineering Management from Florida Institute of Technology.
Sunita received her commission as an Ensign in the United States Navy from the United States Naval Academy in May 1987 and worked as an Aircraft Handler and the Assistant Air Boss before joining NASA.
She has logged more than 3000 flight hours in over 30 different aircrafts.
After her first flight, she served as Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office.
Sunita’s first space expedition was in 2006-2007, aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery where she flew to the International Space Station (ISS) and served as a flight engineer.
She then supported a long-duration mission as Flight Engineer for Expedition 32 and International Space Station Commander for Expedition 33. She, along with Butch Wilmore launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5, 2024 for its first crewed flight, arriving at the space station on June 6. Following the agency’s decision to return Starliner un-crewed, the duo became Expedition 71/72 crewmembers.
Sunita surpassed former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson’s record for total spacewalking time by a female astronaut. Williams now has 62 hours, 6 minutes of total spacewalk time, fourth on NASA’s all-time list.
Sunita is the second female astronaut to have spent the longest time in space, with 608 days. Peggy tops the list with 675 days.
Sunita is the first person to run a marathon in space. She did it on a treadmill in April 2007, while aboard the ISIS.