Kathryn Patricia "Kay" Hire (born August 26, 1959) is a former NASA astronaut and Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve who has flown aboard two Space Shuttle missions.

She flew as Oceanographic Project Coordinator, Mission Commander and Detachment Officer-in-Charge on board specially configured RP-3A and RP-3D Orion aircraft.

Her initial tours of duty included Patrol Squadron Augment Unit VP-0545 and Anti-Submarine Warfare Operations Center 0574 and 0374.

VP-62 was also based at NAS Jacksonville and Hire routinely deployed for flight operations throughout the North Atlantic, Europe, and the Caribbean.

In 1991 she was certified as a Space Shuttle Test Project Engineer (TPE) and headed the checkout of the Extravehicular Mobility Units (spacesuits) and Russian Orbiter Docking System.

Hire was assigned to the Astronaut Support Personnel (ASP) team for Kennedy Space Center Operations.

During the 16-day Spacelab flight, the seven-member crew aboard Space Shuttle Columbia served as both experimental subjects and operators for 26 life science experiments focusing on the effects of microgravity on the brain and nervous system.