Kathleen Hallisey “Kate” Rubins (born October 14, 1978) is an American microbiologist and NASA astronaut.[2] She became the 60th woman to fly in space when she launched on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station on July 7, 2016.[3] She returned to Earth in Kazakhstan on October 30, 2016, aboard a Soyuz.[4] She was a crew member of Expedition 48/49 and Expedition 63/64 of the International Space Station.[4][5] Rubins has spent a total of 300 day, 1 hour, and 31 minutes in space which is the fourth most days in space by a female in space by a U.S female astronaut.[6]
Rubins was born in Farmington, Connecticut, and raised in Napa, California. She did chores around the house to help her be able to fund a trip to Space Camp in seventh grade. The camp inspired her to take more math and science classes in school. Rubin became the third Space Camp alumni to fly in space.[7] Her father, Jim, still resides in Napa and her mother, Ann Hallisey, lives in Davis, California.[8]
Rubins currently resides in Friendswood, Texas along with her husband Michael Magnani.[9][10] They do not have any children that is known of.
Kathleen Rubin graduated high school from Vintage Hight School in Napa, California, in 1996. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in molecular biology from the University of California, San Diego, and a Ph.D. degree in cancer biology from Stanford University Medical School Biochemistry Department and Microbiology and Immunology Department. She was a member of the Kappa Lambda chapter of the Chi Omega sorority while attending UC San Diego.
Rubins first thoughts were that she wanted to become a fight pilot then make her way into becoming an astronaut. She soon wanted to receive a pilot license so that they were able to fly alone. Some some her hobbies include flying airplanes and jumping out of them, scuba diving, and entering triathlons, in which she was a member of the Stanford triathlon team.[11]
Source: Wikipedia