Williams was selected for the United States Naval Test Pilot School from where she graduated in 1993, and was assigned to the Rotary Wing Aircraft Test Directorate as an H-46 Project Officer, and V-22 Chase Pilot. She was deployed on board the USS Saipan when she was selected for NASA's astronaut programme in June 1998.
By then married to Michael J Williams, she had logged over 2,770 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft. Following training and evaluation, Williams worked in Moscow with the Russian Space Agency on the Russian contribution to the International Space Station, and with the first Expedition Crew to the ISS.
Following the return of Expedition-1, Williams has worked within the Robotics branch on the ISS Robotic Arm and the follow on Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator. As a NEEMO2 crew member, she has even lived underwater in the Aquarius habitat for nine days.
Asked if she felt the least touch of worry, Williams' mother said, "I am past all that. She is a very adventurous person. She was at the Naval Academy at a time when only a few women were selected, and she did extremely well there. She also flew helicopters during the Gulf War."
Photograph courtesy the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Special Collections & University Archives
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