2023
The National Aviation Hall of Fame announces me as a member of their “Class of 2023”. The enshrinement ceremony takes place on September 22nd.
2021
On September 22nd, I was appointed as a member of President Biden's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology
2021
The Kathy Sullivan Explores podcast launches in June. Still exploring…
2020
Guinness World Records gives me the award of “Greatest Vertical Extent Travelled by an Individual (within Earth’s exosphere)” thanks to my dive to the Challenger Deep (35,925 feet below sea level) and my time as a NASA astronaut. My version: Most Vertical Person in the World.
2020
I’m admitted to the National Academy of Public Administration.
2019
My first memoir, “Handprints on Hubble: An Astronaut’s Story of Invention” book is released. It recounts my experience as an astronaut and the awe I felt in launching the Hubble Space Telescope.
2018
Ensuring I get plenty of walks and laughs, I welcome a dog into my re-wired life.
2017
The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum makes me Lindbergh Fellow in Space History
2016
I am admitted to both the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
2016
My children’s book with Camella Van Vleet, “To the Stars!” is released
2014
Congress confirms me as Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans & Atmosphere and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Administrator
2011
I am confirmed as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation & Prediction and Deputy NOAA Administrator.
2008
“Generative Leadership: Shaping New Futures for Today's Schools,” which I co-wrote, is released.
2006
I am recruited to The Ohio State University to launch the Battelle Center for Science, Engineering and Public Policy.
2004
President George W. Bush appoints me to the National Science Board. I am elected to the Astronaut Hall of Fame.
1996
I dive aboard the Deep Submergence Vessel Alvin and finally get to see the lava flows and hydrothermal vents at an active seafloor spreading center — a dream of mine that competed with becoming an astronaut back in 1978.
1996
Changing course again, I move to Columbus, Ohio to be President & CEO of COSI, a renowned, hands-on science museum. I am charged with building it a new home and new life.
1993
President Bill Clinton nominates me to the NOAA Chief Scientist post. Congress confirms the appointment in March.
1992
President George H.W. Bush nominates me in April to be Chief Scientist at NOAA. My prospects for the appointment appear doomed when he loses the November election.
1992
I take my third and final space shuttle mission STS-45, which is devoted to atmospheric physics.
1990
My second shuttle mission, STS-31, puts the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit. I’m in my spacesuit, locked in the airlock, ready to go out and fix a stuck solar array, so I don’t get to see this dramatic moment. I have never forgiven the mission control engineer who came up with a software fix that fixed the jam.
1988
I am commissioned as a Navy Reserve Oceanographer with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
1986
My first deep-sea dive takes me to the flanks of the Bermuda Seamount, about 6,000 feet below sea level.
1984
My first space shuttle mission, STS-41G, launches. I become the first American woman (and only the second woman ever) to do a spacewalk.
1979
I get my pilot’s license — I finally had money and decent weather at the same time!
1978
NASA announces the first class of space shuttle astronauts: Fifteen test pilots and twenty “mission specialist” scientists and engineers. I’m one of the lucky twenty mission specialists.
1977
In January, I spot an ad to become a NASA astronaut in a scientific journal. I send my application in by the end of the month, and NASA interviews me in November.
1976
My brother Grant lobbies me to apply to be a space shuttle astronaut. I laugh at the idea. Hard enough to map the sea floor from a research ship on the ocean’s surface.
1973
I move to Halifax, Nova Scotia for my doctoral studies in marine geology and geophysics at Dalhousie University.
1973
My first oceanographic expedition takes me to Sourthern California to map offshore earthquake fault lines.
1971
My junior year abroad takes me to Bergen, Norway. I return home 18 months later, absolutely in love with Norway and dead, flat broke!
1969
I arrive at the University of California, Santa Cruz with a plan to major in foreign languages because I want to explore the world. I soon discover that oceanography is a much better pathway to that kind of life.
1968
My Girl Scout troop charters a 45-foot ketch for a sailing adventure to Catalina Island. After exploring the island, I discover that I love being at sea.
1964
I have my first flight in an airplane to visit the World’s Fair in New York. I begin flying lessons with my Dad that same year.
1958
The AAA TripTik that guides my family’s drive to our new home in Southern California launches my fascination with maps. I enroll as a first-grader at Hayvenhurst Elementary School, where Sally Ride is already a student. We won’t realize this connection until 20 years later.
1957
Sputnik 1 launched one day after my sixth birthday.
1951
I am born on October 3 in Paterson, New Jersey.