New Delhi: Veteran NASA astronaut Sunita Williams has retired after an extraordinary 27-year career, marking the end of one of the most accomplished journeys in human spaceflight. NASA announced the retirement, which went into effect on December 27, 2025, a few days following the Christmas holiday.
Having originally planned his last mission to last only 10 days but finding himself in a stressful nine-and-a-half-month mission to remain longer than planned in the International Space Station, Williams provides a legacy of endurance, leadership, and record-breaking personnel. She was one of the most dependable astronauts at NASA in a highly changing space discovery era through the three spaceships.
608 days beyond Earth
In 1998, Williams was chosen as an astronaut and spent a total of 608 days in space, the second-largest cumulative total of days in space ever by any NASA astronaut. Her last mission made her the sixth-longest American to spend 286 days in space, a record.
She made nine spacewalks, which were 62 hours and 6 minutes. This becomes the highest by any female astronaut and the fourth-highest ever in NASA history. Williams was also the first to run a marathon in space, and it highlights her strength both physically and psychologically.
Three missions that shaped career
The first flight of Williams into space was in December 2006 in Space Shuttle Discovery during Expeditions 14 and 15. In the said mission, she made four spacewalks, which was a world record at the time.
Her second mission was in 2012, when she was launched out of Kazakhstan as Expedition 32/33. She subsequently led Expedition 33 and was able to do major repair work to the space station. Her third and most extended mission was started in June 2024 using the Starliner spacecraft of Boeing. She became a part of Expeditions 71 and 72 and returned to Earth in March 2025.
Indian roots, global inspiration
Williams was born in Ohio and has an Indian father, an Ohio neuroanatomist, who immigrated to the United States, with her mother being a Gujarati. She has many times voiced her pride as an Indian and has continued to be a strong cross-generational and cross-border role model.
Taking a look back at her career, Williams referred to space as her absolute favourite place to be, and she was looking forward to seeing NASA make the next steps to the Moon and Mars. Her legacy to spaceflight, and to the people who looked up to her because of her exploits, is still in orbit, still, as she seeks to retire from active service.