Astronaut Sunita Williams has retired from NASA after an extraordinary 27-year career, during which she completed three missions aboard the International Space Station and set various human spaceflight records.
Her retirement follows a historic and unexpected nine-month mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS), marking the conclusion of a journey defined by endurance, leadership, and scientific excellence.
According to a statement by NASA, Sunita Williams retired from the agency, effective December 27, 2025.
“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,” said Nasa Administrator Jared Isaacman, announcing the Indian-origin space legend’s retirement.
“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,” it said.
Williams, 60, is currently visiting India and on Tuesday participated in an interactive session titled ‘Eyes on the Stars, Feet on the Ground’ at the American Center in New Delhi.
Over her career, Williams logged 608 days in space, the second-highest cumulative time by a NASA astronaut. She ranks sixth among Americans for the longest single spaceflight, tied with astronaut Butch Wilmore, with both spending 286 days in orbit during NASA’s Boeing Starliner and SpaceX Crew-9 missions.
She completed nine spacewalks totalling 62 hours and 6 minutes, the most by a woman and the fourth-highest cumulative spacewalk time overall. She was also the first person to run a marathon in space.
Williams’ most recent mission drew global attention after she and Wilmore were launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner in June 2024 for what was meant to be an eight-day test flight. Technical issues stretched the mission to more than nine months, before the duo returned to Earth in March 2025 aboard SpaceX’s Crew-9.
Sunita ‘Suni’ Williams was born to a Gujarati father, Deepak Pandya, hailing from Jhulasan in Mehsana district and a Slovenian mother, Ursuline Bonnie Pandya, on September 19, 1965, in Euclid, Ohio, in the U.S.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in physical science from the United States Naval Academy and a master’s degree in engineering management from Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida.
“It’s been an incredible honour to have served in the Astronaut Office and have had the opportunity to fly in space three times. I had an amazing 27-year career at NASA, and that is mainly because of all the wonderful love and support I’ve received from my colleagues,” she said.
The International Space Station, the people, the engineering, and the science are truly awe-inspiring and have made the next steps of exploration to the Moon and Mars possible, the veteran astronaut said.
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“I hope the foundation we set has made these bold steps a little easier. I am super excited for NASA and its partner agencies as we take these next steps, and I can’t wait to watch the agency make history,” she said.
