WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - US veteran astronaut Sunita Williams has announced her retirement after 27 years of outstanding service at NASA.
Williams, who has a number of spaceflight records to her credit since joining the U.S. space agency in 1998, announced her retirement in a statement issued by NASA on Tuesday.
'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,' she said.
'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 added. 'The International Space Station, the people, the engineering, and the science are truly awe-inspiring and have made the next steps of exploration to the Moon and Mars possible. I hope the foundation we set has made these bold steps a little easier.'
Her last mission for NASA, the unexpected stay back in the International Space Station as member of Crew-9 mission, was the one that caught the world's attention most.
Williams, along with her fellow US astronaut Butch Wilmore, who had been held up on the International Space Station since June 2024, finally returned to earth in March last year after a wait of nine months.
They arrived in the space station as part of a test flight aboard Boeing's new Starliner capsule on its first crewed mission.
Wilmore and Williams have been living and working aboard the station since docking on June 6, contributing to the expedition crew's research and maintenance activities, while helping ground teams collect critical data for long-duration Starliner flights to the orbiting complex.
The astronauts were supposed to return to earth on June 14, but after encountering technical issues, it was delayed.
Upon arrival, NASA and Boeing identified a number of helium leaks and thruster issues on the Starliner, forcing the astronauts to stay on the ISS.
By September, issues with the spacecraft led to NASA opting to send the vessel back to earth unmanned and leaving Wilmore and Williams waiting for the ideal situation.
Williams and Wilmore traveled 121,347,491 miles during their mission, spent 286 days in space, and completed 4,576 orbits around Earth.
Williams, who is of Indian origin, has logged 608 days in space over her three flights, making her the woman astronaut to have spent the second longest period in space. She also holds the record for total spacewalking time by a female astronaut, with 62 hours and 6 minutes outside the station across nine different spacewalks.
She also holds the record for being the first astronaut to run a marathon and a triathlon in space.
'Over the course of Suni's impressive career trajectory, she has been a pioneering leader,' Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, said.
'From her indelible contributions and achievements to the space station, to her groundbreaking test flight role during the Boeing Starliner mission, her exceptional dedication to the mission will inspire the future generations of explorers.'
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