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'Trailblazer in human spaceflight': Astronaut Sunita Williams retires from NASA after 27 years of service
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams retired on December 27, 2025, after a 27-year career.
NASA astronaut Suni Williams has officially retired on December 27, 2025, after a career spanning 27 years, a press release from the agency stated.
“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,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said.
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“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. Congratulations on your well-deserved retirement, and thank you for your service to NASA and our nation,” he added.
Record-breaking spaceflight career
Williams logged a total of 608 days in space, the second-highest cumulative time achieved by a NASA astronaut. She is also tied for the sixth-longest single spaceflight by an American, alongside fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore, with both spending 286 days in orbit during NASA’s Boeing Starliner and SpaceX Crew-9 missions.
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Over her career, Williams completed nine spacewalks totalling 62 hours and 6 minutes, giving her the most spacewalk time by a woman and ranking her fourth on the all-time cumulative spacewalk duration list, the release stated. She also made history as the first person to run a marathon in space. Her first mission launched in December 2006 aboard space shuttle Discovery on STS-116, with her return to Earth on Atlantis with the STS-117 crew. During Expeditions 14 and 15, she served as a flight engineer and completed a then-record four spacewalks during a single mission.
In 2012, Williams launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a 127-day mission as part of Expeditions 32 and 33, later taking over as commander for Expedition 33. During this mission, she conducted three spacewalks to repair a radiator leak on the station and replace a critical power system component connected to the solar arrays.
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Most recently, Williams and astronaut Butch Wilmore were launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner in June 2024 for NASA’s Crew Flight Test mission. They joined Expeditions 71 and 72, with Williams once again assuming command of the International Space Station for Expedition 72. She completed two spacewalks during the mission and returned to Earth in March 2025 as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission.
