Kathryn D. Sullivan (OG).Kathryn D. Sullivan
Kathryn D. Sullivan is a prominent American scientist and former astronaut, born on October 3, 1951, in Paterson, New Jersey. Raised in a family with a strong aerospace background, she developed an early interest in space exploration. Sullivan received her bachelor’s degree in earth sciences from the University of California–Santa Cruz and later earned a doctorate in geology from Dalhousie University in Canada. She joined NASA in 1978 as one of the first six women selected for the astronaut program and went on to complete three space missions, becoming the first American woman to conduct a spacewalk during STS-41G in 1984.
Her significant contributions include the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope as a co-investigator on the STS-31 mission and serving as payload commander on the first Spacelab mission in 1992. After leaving NASA in 1993, Sullivan held key positions in government, including chief scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and later its administrator. She has been involved in various scientific and environmental initiatives, including serving on the Pew Oceans Commission and the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Notably, in 2020, she became the first woman to reach the Mariana Trench's deepest point. Throughout her career, Sullivan has received numerous accolades for her contributions to science and exploration.
On this Page
Kathryn D. Sullivan
- Born: October 3, 1951
- Place of Birth: Paterson, New Jersey
Background
Scientist and former astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan was born in Paterson, New Jersey, on October 3, 1951, to Donald P. and Barbara K. Sullivan. Her father was an aerospace engineer, so she was well aware of space as a child. The day after she turned six, she and her father stood in their yard to see if they could see Sputnik, the Soviet satellite.
Her father realized the potential for someone in his field and moved the family to the West Coast in 1958. As the US space program emerged, Sullivan was immersed in information about it. She grew up in Woodland Hills, California, and attended Taft High School, graduating in 1969. She was often on the water as a Mariner Girl Scout.
Sullivan attended the University of California–Santa Cruz, majoring in languages. Required to take three science courses, she selected marine biology, theoretical math, and general oceanography. Marine biology and oceanography proved enlightening, and after taking several related courses, she changed her major to earth sciences. Sullivan graduated with honors in 1973 with a bachelor of science degree. She earned a doctorate in geology from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1978. Her research included working on various oceanographic expeditions studying the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, Newfoundland Basin, and fault lines off the coast of Southern California. She later became an oceanography officer in the US Naval Reserve, serving from 1988 to 2006, and earned a private pilot’s license.
Life’s Work
While Sullivan was in graduate school, her brother Grant applied for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Space Shuttle astronaut program. He encouraged her to apply as well, though her focus at the time was on submersibles. She was one of the first six women chosen by NASA to join the astronaut program in 1978 and became an astronaut the following year. The eighth class of astronauts, which was the first to include civilians, had six women, one Asian American, and three Black Americans. Sally Ride, who was in this class, became the first woman in space.
Sullivan served as support crew for multiple flights. She was also capsule communicator in Mission Control for various Shuttle missions. She explained what was happening during launches, initially with the radio team and later on television. In 1985, she was appointed to the National Commission on Space, and she helped to produce the 1986 report Pioneering the Space Frontier, which addressed various goals for US civilian space activities.
Sullivan flew on three space flights, in 1984, 1990, and 1992. Her first mission, STS-41G, launched on October 5, 1984. The crew of seven deployed the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite and performed multiple experiments. Sullivan participated in a 3.5-hour extravehicular activity (EVA), or spacewalk, to demonstrate satellite refueling was possible. She was the first American woman to perform an EVA. Her work also involved remote sensing research. She was co-investigator on the Shuttle Imaging Radar-B (SIR-B) experiment. The crew returned to Earth on October 13 after 132 orbits.
The STS-31 crew launched on April 24, 1990, aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. The crew deployed the Hubble Space Telescope. Sullivan considered her work on this to be her most lasting contribution to space science. She and fellow astronaut Bruce McCandless II had overseen development of tools and the process of servicing the enormous telescope in space. When it was deployed, she was unable to watch because she was on standby in the airlock in case she had to spacewalk to tend to any problems. Discovery returned on April 29, having orbited Earth seventy-six times. In 2019, Sullivan published a memoir, Handprints on Hubble: An Astronaut’s Story of Invention, that dealt with these experiences.
Sullivan served as payload commander on STS-45, the first Spacelab mission. The crew launched on March 24, 1992, and returned on April 2. Operating the dozen experiments of the Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science (ATLAS-1), the crew gathered a wealth of data on the chemical and physical properties of the atmosphere as part of the effort to learn about climate and atmosphere. Her combined space time for three missions was 532 hours.
Sullivan left NASA in 1993 when President Bill Clinton appointed her to serve as chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and in 2014 she became the administrator of NOAA. At the same time, she was a member of the Pew Oceans Commission from 2000 to 2003. In January 2017, she became the Charles A. Lindbergh Chair of Aerospace History at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. She has also served as the US co-chair of the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), an international collaborative working on creating a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS) to focus on the environment and society. In 2020, she became the first woman to descend to the lowest known location in the ocean, nearly seven miles deep in the Mariana Trench.
President Joe Biden appointed Sullivan to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in 2021.
Impact
Sullivan has filled important roles in science and government. She has received many awards, including NASA Exceptional Service Medals in 1988 and 1991, the Juliette Award for National Women of Distinction from Girl Scouts USA in 2002, and the Aviation Week & Space Technology Aerospace Legend Award in 2005. She has been inducted into the US Astronaut Hall of Fame, Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame, Ohio Veterans’ Hall of Fame, and National Aviation Hall of Fame. In her capacity as an astronaut and scientist, she appeared in several films and television programs, including the 1985 IMAX short The Dream Is Alive.
Personal Life
Little information is publicly available about Sullivan’s personal life.
Bibliography
“Dr. Kathryn D. Sullivan.” American Academy of Arts & Sciences, Aug. 2024, www.amacad.org/person/kathryn-d-sullivan. Accessed 28 Aug. 2024.
“Kathryn D. Sullivan Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal Columbus, Ohio—10 May 2007.” Johnson Space Center History Portal, 10 May 2007, historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/JSCHistoryPortal/history/oral‗histories/SullivanKD/SullivanKD‗5-10-07.htm. Accessed 28 Aug. 2024.
“Kathy Sullivan’s Expertise Spans the Frontiers of Space and Sea.” Kathy Sullivan, kathysullivanastronaut.com/about/. Accessed 28 Aug. 2024.
Wood, Charlie. “Kathryn Sullivan: Spacewalker and Earth Explorer.” Space, 13 Jan. 2020, www.space.com/kathryn-sullivan-bio.html. Accessed 28 Aug. 2024.
Zain, Haneen. "Alumna Kathryn Sullivan Enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame." UC Santa Cruz, 25 Sept. 2023, news.ucsc.edu/2023/09/kathryn-sullivan.html. Accessed 28 Aug. 2024.