Florida Tech grad Suni Williams to return to ISS aboard Boeing Starliner in historic launch

What were the odds? NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Joan Higginbotham floated side-by-side operating the International Space Station's robotic arm in December 2006 — after both had earned master's degrees from the Florida Institute of Technology.

Now Higginbotham is rooting for her friend and fellow alumnae as Williams prepares to make history by returning to the orbiting outpost aboard the first crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.

"It's really cool that Suni is getting to fly on a new vehicle. Not too many people get to do that. Not only has she flown on shuttle, but she's going on this brand-new vehicle — and that's got to be exciting in itself," Higginbotham said.

"The fact that it's been delayed, that happens with the new spacecraft. It's to be expected. And you want to make sure that you work all the kinks out of the spacecraft before you put human beings on board," she said.

"So I'm excited for her. And I know she's excited because she's been waiting quite some time for this, this maiden voyage on this vehicle," she said.

Williams and NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore are scheduled to lift off inside Starliner at 10:34 p.m. Monday atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

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Two days prior to launch, Higginbotham will speak to Florida Tech graduates Saturday during a trio of spring commencement ceremonies. She earned a master’s degree in management in 1992 and a second master’s degree in space systems in 1996 while working at Kennedy Space Center, where she became lead orbiter project engineer for shuttle Columbia.

Florida Tech President John Nicklow will present Higginbotham an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.

“From the education we provided to those inaugural space workers on the Cape to our cutting-edge research and teaching today that is making our nation’s lunar and Martian futures a reality, Florida Tech has been honored to educate some of the best and brightest in the space industry over the last 65 years,” Nicklow said in an email.

“Joan and Sunita are certainly two of the best and we are so proud to call them Florida Tech Panthers. Their success on Earth and above it is a wonderful inspiration to future generations of Florida Tech students and alumni," he said.

Williams earned her Florida Tech master's degree in engineering management in 1995 from the university's Extended Studies Division in Patuxent, Maryland. She served as a U.S. Navy helicopter test pilot and instructor at Naval Air Station Patuxent River.

Williams and Higginbotham were mission specialists aboard Discovery during the STS-116 mission, which lasted nearly 13 days and featured installation of the P5 truss on the ISS. Williams stayed aboard the ISS as a flight engineer, and she set a women's world record by logging four spacewalks totaling 29 hours and 17 minutes before returning to Earth in June 2007.

Higginbotham described Williams as "very even-keeled, very professional, good sense of humor, just somebody that you would definitely want to fly in space with."

"Suni and I were partnered together and flying the robotic arm on the International Space Station, and it was great being paired with her. I think we were very complimentary of one another. She had my back. I had her back. And we worked well together, and we knew we were going to go up there and be very successful," Higginbotham recalled.

"I don't know if a lot of people know, but Suni grew her hair really long because she was going to donate her hair to Locks of Love. So I was designated as the barber," she said.

"I cut her braid before she went over to the space station. And everyone was telling me not to quit my day job — because apparently I didn't do a wonderful job of styling the hair after cutting off the braid," she said, laughing.

For the latest news from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit floridatoday.com/space.

Rick Neale is a Space Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Neale at [email protected]. Twitter/X: @RickNeale1

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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: NASA astronaut, Florida Tech grad Williams returning to ISS on Starliner