Sunita Williams, one of the most decorated astronauts in human spaceflight, has retired from the American space agency, bringing to an end a trailblazing 27-year career that concluded with a historic and unexpected nine-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Announcing the Indian-origin space legend's retirement, Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman described Williams as a pioneer who helped shape the future of human space exploration. “Suni Williams has been a trailblazer in human spaceflight, shaping the future of exploration through her leadership aboard the space station and paving the way for commercial missions to low Earth orbit,” he said.
Over the course of her career, Williams logged a total of 608 days in space, making her second among Nasa astronauts in cumulative time spent in orbit. She also ranks sixth on the list of longest single spaceflights by an American astronaut, having spent 286 days in space during Nasa’s Boeing Starliner and SpaceX Crew-9 missions, a record she shares with astronaut Butch Wilmore.
Williams completed nine spacewalks, spending a total of 62 hours and six minutes outside the spacecraft. This makes her the woman with the most spacewalk time and places her fourth on the all-time list for cumulative spacewalk duration. She also holds the distinction of being the first person to run a marathon in space.
Highlighting her broader impact, Isaacman said Williams’ contributions have had lasting significance for future missions. “Her work advancing science and technology has laid the foundation for Artemis missions to the Moon and advancing toward Mars, and her extraordinary achievements will continue to inspire generations to dream big and push the boundaries of what’s possible," he added.
Williams first launched into space aboard space shuttle Discovery on the STS-116 mission in December 2006 and returned to Earth with the STS-117 crew aboard space shuttle Atlantis. She served as a flight engineer for Expeditions 14 and 15 and completed a then-record four spacewalks during the mission.
In 2012, she launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a 127-day mission as part of Expeditions 32 and 33. During the mission, Williams also served as commander of Expedition 33. She carried out three spacewalks to repair a leak in a space station radiator and to replace a key power component that transfers electricity from the station’s solar arrays to its systems.
Most recently, Williams flew aboard the Starliner spacecraft in June 2024 with astronaut Butch Wilmore as part of Nasa’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. The two later joined Expeditions 71 and 72, with Williams once again taking command of the space station during Expedition 72. She completed two spacewalks on the mission and returned to Earth in March 2025 as part of Nasa’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission.
Beyond her spaceflight record of 608 days, Williams held several key roles at Nasa. In 2002, she served as a crew member on Nasa Extreme Environments Mission Operations (NEEMO), spending nine days living and working in an underwater habitat. After her first spaceflight, she became deputy chief of Nasa’s Astronaut Office and later served as director of Operations in Star City, Russia, following her second mission. In her final role, she helped establish a helicopter training platform to prepare astronauts for future Moon landings under the Artemis programme.
A native of Needham, Massachusetts, Williams holds a bachelor’s degree in physical science from the United States Naval Academy and a master’s degree in engineering management from the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida. A retired US Navy captain, she is an accomplished helicopter and fixed-wing pilot, having logged more than 4,000 flight hours across 40 different aircraft.
Sunita Williams’s Indian connection is primarily rooted in her paternal heritage. Her father, Dr Deepak Pandya, was a renowned neuroanatomist who emigrated from Mehsana district of Gujarat to the United States in the late 1950s. While Sunita was born and raised in the US, she has maintained a deep emotional bond with her ancestral village, where she is affectionately regarded as a "daughter of the soil".
Williams has consistently integrated Indian culture into her identity as an astronaut. On her various missions to the International Space Station, she famously carried symbolic items such as a Ganesha idol, a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, and Indian snacks.
Source: India Today