Another NASA hero has hung up her boots after a decorated career. Astronaut Sunita Williams is officially retired from the agency effective December 27, 2025, marking an end to a 27-year-long service. Williams (60), who is one of the most recognisable faces in the space industry worldwide, has logged the second highest number of days in space of any American astronaut over three spaceflight missions.
.@NASA astronaut Suni Williams retires after 27 years, effective Dec. 27, 2025. Williams completed three missions aboard the International Space Station, setting numerous human spaceflight records. More… https://t.co/xrxErQKntr pic.twitter.com/CnRS693KSV
— International Space Station (@Space_Station) January 21, 2026
Thanking Williams for her service, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said in a recent 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.”
Reflecting on her career, Williams said – “Anyone who knows me knows that space is my absolute favorite place to be. It’s been an incredible honor 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.”
Williams’ decorated NASA career
A native of Needham, Massachusetts, Williams was selected as an astronaut in 1998 and has been a part of three space missions since 2006. On her first mission to the International Space Station (ISS), she launched aboard the space shuttle Discovery with STS-116 and returned after more than 190 days in space. She conducted a record-setting four spacewalks before returning aboard space shuttle Atlantis with the STS-117 crew.
Her second mission was in 2012 when she flew from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the ISS. She served as the station commander and conducted three spacewalks over 127 days. She launched on her third and final mission in June 2024 for Boeing‘s Crew Flight Test (CFT) meant to test the Starliner spacecraft that Williams helped design. Williams became the first woman to fly on a test flight to the space station and conducted two spacewalks while serving as the station’s commander for the second time.
Although the mission was supposed to last 8-10 days, issues with Starliner extended it to nine months. Ditching Starliner, Williams and her crew mate Barry Wilmore returned on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft with Crew-9 astronauts after 286 days in March 2025. Wilmore retired from NASA in August last year. Both are on the sixth spot on the list of most days spent in space on a single mission (286 days).
Thanks to the extended Starliner mission, Williams logged a total of 608 days in space, second only to Peggy Whitson (695 days). Whitson, also retired, led Axiom Space’s Ax-4 mission to the ISS last year which included Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla.
Apart from being a space traveller, Williams is also a retired US Navy captain and an accomplished helicopter and fixed-wing pilot, having logged more than 4,000 flight hours in 40 different aircraft.
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