Kay Hire is a United States Navy Captain (retired) and twice flown NASA Astronaut (retired). She earned a bachelor of science degree from the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1981 with the second class to include women. After completing Naval Flight Officer training, her adventures began by flying naval oceanographic research missions to 25 countries. In 1989 Kay started work at NASA Kennedy Space Center as a space shuttle engineer while she continued to serve in the Navy Reserve. Once United States combat exclusion laws were modified in 1993, Kay became the first U.S. woman assigned to a military combat position, flying P-3 maritime patrol aircraft. Two years later, she reported to NASA Johnson Space Center for astronaut training.

Kay flew in space as a mission specialist on two space shuttle missions. During the STS-90 Neurolab mission, she served as both researcher and test subject in the SpaceLab, 170 miles above the earth. Kay installed the 7-windowed cupola onto the International Space Station while flying 25 times the speed of sound, as part of the STS-130 construction mission. The 34th woman to fly in space, Kay traveled more than 12 million miles in space, orbiting the earth 473 times.

A veteran of Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, Kay served in multiple leadership positions for a total of 35 years active and reserve U.S. Navy duty. She holds a master of science degree from the Florida Institute of Technology, is a Syracuse University National Security Management Fellow, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Seminar XXI (Foreign Policy International Relations and the National Interest) Fellow. She flew more than 3,400 hours in various aircraft, and 711 hours in space.

As founder and president of Astra Portolan Corporation, Kay now guides students and corporate managers to seize emerging opportunities, while she shares her experiences as an astronaut and naval leader.