Coleman is married to glass artist Josh Simpson who lives in Massachusetts. They have one son. She is part of the band Bandella, which also includes fellow NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, and Micki Pettit (wife of the astronaut Donald Pettit). Coleman is a flute player and has taken several flutes with her to the ISS, including a pennywhistle from Paddy Moloney of the The Chieftains, an old Irish flute from Matt Molloy of The Chieftains, and a flute from Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull (band). On 15 February 2011, she played one of the instruments live from orbit on National Public Radio. On 12 April 2011, she played live via video link for the audience of Jethro Tull (band)'s show in Russia in honour of the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight, playing in orbit while Anderson played on the ground. On 13 May of that year, Coleman delivered a taped commencement address to the class of 2011 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.