sunita williams ended a long NASA career after an extended, unplanned stay aboard the International Space Station, the agency said, following a Boeing Starliner test flight that left her and crewmate Butch Wilmore on the station far longer than planned.
NASA described Williams as one of its Commercial Crew astronauts and said she flew as pilot on Boeing's first crewed Starliner flight test, becoming the first woman to fly an orbital spacecraft flight test, a mission that was meant to last about eight days but was extended because of Starliner service module problems.
The agency and news reports said Williams and Wilmore returned to Earth aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft as part of SpaceX Crew 9, riding with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, and landing in the Gulf of Mexico near Tallahassee, Florida, as reported by NASA and multiple outlets.
NASA announced Williams' retirement from the agency and described her as a trailblazer, according to the agency, and she later spoke at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi about her spaceflight experiences and human space exploration, as reported by the institute and NASA.
Career Record And Honors
Williams grew up in Needham, Massachusetts and was born in Euclid, Ohio, and she served in the US Navy rising to the rank of captain, according to NASA biographical material, logging more than 3,000 flight hours in over 30 aircraft types.
The agency records show she flew as a mission specialist on STS-116 then served as flight engineer for Expedition 14 and Expedition 15, later commanding Expedition 33 and commanding the station again during Expedition 72 after returning to long‑duration duty.
NASA lists her cumulative time in space at more than 600 days, and credits her with nine spacewalks totaling 62 hours and 6 minutes, a total that sets the record for time spent spacewalking by a woman and ranks her among the most experienced EVA performers overall.
Her notable public moments include running a marathon from the station and performing a triathlon in microgravity, and her honors recorded in source material include US military awards, a Russian medal for merit in space exploration, and the Padma Bhushan from the Government of India.
Agency material and news outlets note Williams worked with Boeing and SpaceX under NASA’s Commercial Crew program, and that her Starliner flight and extended station stay prompted international media coverage and agency updates about crew return plans.
