The High-Flying, Deep-Diving Adventures of Kathy Sullivan, Astronaut and Oceanographer

Growing up, Kathy Sullivan always knew the world was bigger than her neighborhood. She loved to study maps and wonder about distant places. And when she was six years old and saw Sputnik in the sky, she knew space would be the most amazing adventure of all.

One of the first six trailblazing women to join NASA’s storied astronaut corps, Kathy was the first woman to walk in space and a veteran of three shuttle missions. She was in the first NASA Astronaut Group 8, provided support for the first Space Shuttle mission and the Kennedy Space Center crew, and was part of the team that launched, rescued, and maintained the Hubble Space Telescope.

After spending 532 total hours in space, Kathy left NASA and fulfilled another dream: traveling to the sea floor. Kathy became the first woman to travel to the Mariana Trench, the lowest known point on planet Earth. Kathy never forgot the maps she loved as a child and followed her curiosity to the highest reaches and most sunken depths—farther than anyone else.