NASA astronaut Sunita Williams retires after record-setting 27-year career

Key Highlights

• Over the course of her career, she spent a total of 608 days in space, the second-highest cumulative time logged by any NASA astronaut.
• “Suni Williams has been a trailblazer in human spaceflight,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said, praising her leadership aboard the space station and her role in advancing science and technology critical for future Artemis missions to the Moon and eventual missions to Mars.
• Among her many milestones, Williams ranks sixth among American astronauts for the longest single spaceflight, having logged 286 days during NASA’s Boeing Starliner and SpaceX Crew-9 missions, a record she shares with astronaut Butch Wilmore.
• She also completed nine spacewalks totalling 62 hours and six minutes, the most by any woman and the fourth-highest cumulative spacewalk time in history.
• Williams was also the first person to run a marathon in space.