NASA astronaut Sunita Williams retires from her remarkable 27-year career 

NASA’s Indian astronaut Suni Williams has retired, having spent 27 years with the US space agency, marking the end of one of the most successful careers in human spaceflight. NASA stated that her retirement took effect on December 27, 2025.

Williams, who has been on three missions to the International Space Station (ISS), leaves a legacy that was characterised by record-setting accomplishments and leadership positions that assisted in shaping the current path of space exploration.

Throughout her career, she had 608 days in space, the second-longest total number of days in space to have been recorded by any NASA astronaut.

Suni Williams has been a pioneer in human spaceflight, NASA Administrator Jared Issacman said in praise of her leadership on the space station and her contributions to science and technology that could be important in future Artemis missions to the Moon and future missions to Mars.

None of the other achievements is Williams’ sixth among American astronauts on the long single space mission, having spent 286 days on space trips by NASA Boeing Starliner and SpaceX Crew-9, trying her with astronaut Butch Wilmore.

She has also made nine spacewalks with a total of 62 hours and six minutes, the most made by any woman and fourth highest cumulative time in the history of spacewalks. Williams was also the one who was the first to run a marathon in space. 

Williams and Wilmore were to be on board the Starlink spacecraft in June 2024, in the Boeing Crew Flight Test mission last hurrah by NASA. She and Wilmore then joined Expedition 71/72, and Williams once more commanded the space station in Expedition 72. As part of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission by the agency, she made two spacewalks on the mission and landed on Earth in March 2025.

Williams said: “Anyone who knows me knows that space is my absolute favourite place to be. 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.

“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. 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 added.

Williams, a graduate of the US Naval Academy and Florida Institute of Technology, is a retired US Navy captain who is both an accomplished pilot whose flight hours are more than 4000 flight hours and a native of Needham, Massachusetts.