NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, whose last 10-day space mission stretched into nine-and-a-half months on the International Space Station (ISS), has retired after 27 years. Sunita Williams closed a remarkable chapter that inspired millions of children, parents, and future astronauts across the world. For nearly three decades, Sunita Williams floated through space, walked outside a spacecraft, led missions, and showed what calm courage looks like in the most extreme environment imaginable.
Sunita Williams retires from NASA after 27 years
Sunita Williams officially retired after a remarkable career spanning over 27 years of service devoted to human spaceflight, science, and exploration. During her career, she flew on multiple space missions, spent more than 600 days in space, and carried out several spacewalks, placing her among the most experienced astronauts in NASA’s history. She served aboard the International Space Station and also commanded it, a role that requires sharp leadership, scientific skill, and absolute trust from the global space community. She worked on experiments that helped scientists understand how the human body adapts to space and how future long-duration missions can be made safer.
Who is Sunita Williams?
Sunita Williams is a US astronaut and former Navy captain, born on September 19, 1965, in Massachusetts. She joined NASA in 1998 and is a highly experienced pilot with over 4,000 flight hours. Though American by birth, she shares a strong bond with her Indian roots in Gujarat and has taken Indian symbols and traditions with her on space missions.
A Record-Breaking Career in Space
Sunita Williams holds the second-highest record of cumulative time spent in space by a NASA astronaut, amounting to a total of 608 days in orbit, after Russian astronaut Oleg Kononenko, who has logged over 1,000 days in space. She completed three missions to the ISS over the course of her career. She was also part of the sixth-longest single spaceflight, spending 286 days in orbit during NASA’s Boeing Starliner and SpaceX Crew-9 missions alongside astronaut Butch Wilmore.
The astronaut carried out a total of nine spacewalks, amounting to 62 hours and 6 minutes, making her the woman with the most spacewalk time and placing her fourth on the all-time cumulative spacewalk duration list. She also completed the Boston Marathon distance on a treadmill aboard the ISS as the station orbited Earth, making her the first person to run a marathon in space. She went on her first space mission on 9 December 2006, joining the Expedition 14 crew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-116). She conducted her first extra-vehicular activity on the eighth day of the mission. Williams also set a record by completing four spacewalks during a single mission while serving as a flight engineer during Expeditions 14 and 15.
Her most recent mission took place in June 2024, when she was launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner for NASA’s Crew Flight Test, along with Butch Wilmore. Williams assumed command of the ISS during Expedition 72 as the crew joined Expeditions 71 and 72, completing two spacewalks during the mission. The astronauts remained in orbit longer than planned owing to delays and returned safely to Earth in March 2025 as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission.
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