Posted: May 23, 2025
:Allison Barss
In relentless pursuit of satisfying her curiosities, Dr. Kathryn Sullivan (PhD'78) has landed herself in history books — more than once.
The notable alum is the first American woman to perform a spacewalk (1984), and the first woman to visit the deepest known part of the ocean (2020). She’s also the first person to have done both.
Her greatest pride, however, comes from her own victory in seeing, understanding and sharing her world. And in the process, she’s paving the way for women who follow her.
An early explorer
Growing up in California, her older brother showed interest in airplanes, while she immersed herself in maps, geography and the adventures of Jacques Cousteau, Tom Swift and The Hardy Boys.
“Our parents never edited any of our interests,” she says, instead letting the children decide if they were a passing fad or an element of their life’s work.
This led to an adventurous upbringing. Dr. Sullivan recalls when she was 11 travelling by plane to a small, nearby airport with her father (an aerospace engineer and pilot) which they often did just for a burger or piece of pie.
When they arrived, they saw a plane with no ‘skin’ (encasing); its seats perched in the open air.
Not knowing the aircraft’s owner — Dr. Sullivan muttered to herself that she’d love to fly in it. Her determination was rewarded with the opportunity to do just that.
“I was in full-on adventure mode,” shares Dr. Sullivan. “I could look between my feet straight down to the ground. It was just exhilarating.”
A young Kathryn Sullivan, whose interest in flying and exploration started at an early age.
Ʒ, the launch pad
Dr. Sullivan completed an earth sciences degree at the University of California in 1973. Following that, she came to Halifax to earn a doctorate in geology from Ʒ.
“At the time, there was a lot of geologic activity happening underwater in the North Atlantic, especially with plate tectonics becoming a major focus in research,” she says. “Dal, along with the , were quite active in that research compared to other institutions.”
While at Dal, Dr. Sullivan participated in several oceanographic expeditions that studied the floors of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, including her thesis project focused on the Newfoundland Basin.
From the Space Shuttle Challenger to the Challenger Deep
In 1978, Dr. Sullivan was chosen as one of the first six women to join NASA’s astronaut corps. Until then, space training for women was widely misunderstood — from the sizing of a spacesuit and the amount of pure oxygen needed for a spacewalk, right down to the number of tampons required for a space mission.
On October 5, 1984, the Space Shuttle Challenger left the for what would be Dr. Sullivan’s first of three trips into orbit. She made history six days later when she became the first American woman to do a spacewalk, during which she was tethered to the Challenger for three-and-a-half hours to demonstrate the feasibility of refueling satellites in space.
During each space mission, Dr. Sullivan says she experienced the ‘commonplace’ feeling that can come from being inside the spacecraft—working and sipping coffee—only to then look out the window at Earth.
“I remember the first time I witnessed the sharp boundary line between day and night on Earth—a twilight time for many on our planet—realizing at that very moment that somewhere down there, a child could be looking up and pointing at our satellite,” she says.
Astronaut Dr. Kathryn Sullivan uses binoculars for a magnified viewing of Earth through Challenger’s cabin windows.
Dr. Sullivan logged more than 500 hours in space before leaving NASA. She later assumed a role with the , where she was handpicked by President Obama to serve as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere from 2014 to 2017, and later, on President Biden’s Presidential Council of Advisors for Science and Technology.
In June 2020, Dr. Sullivan when she became the first woman to visit the Challenger Deep, located in the Mariana Trench approximately 11 kilometres below sea level in the western Pacific Ocean.
Dr. Kathryn Sullivan smiles after completing her visit to the Challenger Deep.
Looking up
To date, Dr. Sullivan’s life has been a testament to the power of human curiosity. She continues to prove that exploration knows no limits—only new horizons.
As for what’s next, she’s looking forward to a few trips here on Earth, including a return to Iceland. Not surprisingly, she also hopes to make it back to space.
“Years ago, NASA took a 77-year-old veteran astronaut, John Glenn, on a week-long space trip — partly because he’s an esteemed astronaut, but also to get data on how an older body would perform in space,” she says.
Dr. Sullivan says now that NASA has “data on the old fogy,” they need some data on “an old broad.”
“I want to be first in line. I want the John Glenn deal.”
