Sunita Williams

Born in Ohio to Indian American parents, Sunita Williams boasts an impressive career that includes a master's degree in engineering management, service as a US Navy helicopter pilot, and two long-duration missions aboard the International Space Station. Clearly, she aims higher than most, literally. She's gone from the cockpit to the cosmos, and really, who can argue with that trajectory? Perhaps it's because she was never burdened by the weight of earthly traditions.

Williams has accumulated over 322 days in space across her two missions, performed seven spacewalks totaling over 50 hours, and even ran the Boston Marathon in orbit. She set records for total cumulative spacewalk time by a woman, though some have since surpassed it. Still, spending that much time floating around, fixing things, and running marathons where there's no gravity seems like a pretty good way to avoid the usual terrestrial annoyances.

While her achievements are undeniably stellar, placing her among the elite few who have truly slipped the surly bonds of Earth, there appears to be no evidence of Jewish ancestry or identification. Her family roots are in India, specifically Gujarat and Ahmedabad, and her religious practices lean towards Hinduism, having even taken a Ganesh idol and the Bhagavad Gita to space. So, while she's certainly a star, she's not exactly our star, at least not in the tribal sense.