Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams has announced her retirement from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). With 27 years of service, she completed three missions aboard the International Space Station. According to the US space agency, the retirement came into effect on December 27, 2025.
“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 said in a statement.
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“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,” Isaacman added.
Sunita Williams’ career at a glance:
She launched for the first time aboard space shuttle Discovery with STS-116 in December 2006 and returned aboard space shuttle Atlantis with the STS-117 crew. During that time, she served as a flight engineer.
Her second visit to space was in 2012, when she launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a 127-day mission as a member of Expedition 32/33. She also served as space station commander for Expedition 33.
“Most recently, Williams and Wilmore launched aboard the Starliner spacecraft in June 2024 as part of NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test mission. She and Wilmore went on to join Expedition 71/72, and Williams again took command of the space station for Expedition 72. She completed two spacewalks on the mission and returned to Earth in March 2025, as part of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission,” NASA said in a statement.
What did Sunita Williams study?
She 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. She is a native of Needham, Massachusetts.
Sunita Williams trends on Google:
Sunita Williams’ announcement of her retirement from her record-breaking spaceflight career prompted many to search for her, leading her name to trend on Google.
The top searches are from Slovenia, India, Canada, and the USA. Many are also searching for information on her family, especially her father, Deepak Pandya.
Sunita Williams in Delhi:
Dubbing her India visit as “homecoming”, the astronaut spoke about the importance of the country in her life during an interactive session at the American Center in New Delhi.
“One of the first things you do when you get to space is that we all want to look for our home, like our immediate home. I grew up in Massachusetts. My father's from India. My mother's from Slovenia. I'm obviously looking for these places to call home,” she said.
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She continued, “Every person I know is there, every animal, every plant, everything we know is there. We're all in this one little space in our solar system, and I think it changes your perception about us having any differences. It really makes you feel like we are just one and we all should probably work a little bit closer and easier together.”
According to PTI, the veteran astronaut also met with late Kalpana Chawla's 90-year-old mother and sister while in Delhi. Chawla was the first Indian origin female astronaut to go to space. She, along with her crew, died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Their spacecraft disintegrated during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere in February 2003.