NEW DELHI, Jan 21:
NASA astronaut Sunita Williams has retired from the space agency, capping a stellar 27-year career during which she completed three missions aboard the International Space Station and set various human spaceflight records.
Williams, 60, is currently visiting India. On Tuesday afternoon, she participated in an interactive session hosted at the American Center here.
Posters of the event — “Eyes on the Stars, Feet on the Ground”, at the venue, described her as ‘NASA Astronaut, Ret. and US Navy Captain, Ret.’
During conversation, she shared her experiences from the time when she had got stuck in space when an eight-day mission to the International Space Station had turned out to be a challenge of a lifetime as problems cropped up on their Boeing space flight that stretched her stay in orbit to over nine months.
“After 27 years of service, NASA astronaut Suni Williams retired from the agency, effective Dec. 27, 2025. Williams completed three missions aboard the International Space Station, setting numerous human spaceflight records throughout her career,” NASA said in a statement issued on January 20.
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 US.
“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 was quoted as saying in the statement.
“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.”
Williams logged 608 days in space — second on the list of cumulative time in space by a NASA astronaut. She ranks sixth on the list of longest single spaceflight by an American, tied with NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, both logging 286 days during NASA’s Boeing Starliner and SpaceX Crew-9 missions, it said.
Williams also completed nine spacewalks, totalling 62 hours and 6 minutes, ranking as the most spacewalk time by a woman and fourth-most on the all-time cumulative spacewalk duration list. She was the first person to run a marathon in space, NASA said.
The Needham, Massachusetts, native 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.
A retired US Navy captain, Williams is an accomplished helicopter and fixed-wing pilot, having logged more than 4,000 flight hours in 40 different aircraft, it said.
“Anyone who knows me knows that space is my absolute favourite place to be,” Williams was quoted as saying in the statement.
“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. (PTI)
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