Suni Williams, Mass. native and astronaut who spent 9 months trapped in space, retiring from NASA
ByBryan Lambert, Boston 25 News Staff
ByBryan Lambert, Boston 25 News Staff
Suni Williams, the Massachusetts native and esteemed astronaut who recently spent 9 months trapped in space after a botched mission, announced Tuesday she is retiring from NASA.
The Needham native and fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore spent more than 9 months in space after intially expectingto be gone just a week or so after launching on Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule on June 5, 2024.
They circled Earth 4,576 times and traveled 121 million miles (195 million kilometers) by the time of splashdown.
The Needham native spent 27 years with NASA and first reached space aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 2006, before returning to the stars twice more.
“Anyone who knows me knows that space is my absolute favorite place to be,” said Williams in a statement shared by NASA. “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. 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. I am super excited for NASA and its partner agencies as we take these next steps, and I can’t wait to watch the agency make history.”
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NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Returns To Earth In this handout image provided by NASA, A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is seen as it lands with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard in the water on March 18, 2025 off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station. (Photo by Keegan Barber/NASA via Getty Images) (Handout/NASA via Getty Images)
NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Returns To Earth Support teams work around a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft shortly after it landed with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station. (Photo by NASA / Keegan Barber / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images)
NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Returns To Earth In this handout image provided by NASA, A SpaceX Dragon spacecraft is seen as it lands with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov aboard in the water on March 18, 2025 off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station. (Photo by Keegan Barber/NASA via Getty Images) (Handout/NASA via Getty Images)
NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Returns To Earth In this handout image provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), support teams work on the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft shortly after it landed with NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov onboard on March 18, 2025 off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida. Williams and Wilmore were returning from a stay onboard the International Space Station that began in June 2024. (Photo by Keegan Barber/NASA via Getty Images) (Handout/NASA via Getty Images)
NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Returns To Earth NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore(l), Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov (2nd L), and NASA astronauts Nick Hague (2nd R) and Suni Williams (R) are seen inside a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship MEGAN shortly after having landed in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station. (Photo by NASA / Keegan Barber / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images)
NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Returns To Earth NASA astronaut Suni Williams is helped out of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship MEGAN after she, NASA astronaut Nick Hague, and Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov landed in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station. (Photo by NASA / Keegan Barber / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images)
NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Returns To Earth NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore is helped out of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship MEGAN after he, NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov landed in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station. (Photo by NASA / Keegan Barber / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images)
NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Returns To Earth NASA astronaut Suni Williams is helped out of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship MEGAN after she, NASA astronaut Nick Hague, and Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov landed in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station. (Photo by NASA / Keegan Barber / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images)
NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Returns To Earth NASA astronaut Nick Hague is helped out of a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft onboard the SpaceX recovery ship MEGAN after, NASA astronauts Suni Williams, Butch Wilmore, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov landed in the water off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. Hague, Gorbunov, Williams, and Wilmore are returning from a long-duration science expedition aboard the International Space Station. (Photo by NASA / Keegan Barber / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images) (Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images)
NASA's SpaceX Crew-9 Returns To Earth Teachers from Gurukul school of art carry back a painting welcoming American astronauts, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore back to earth on the street outside their art school in Mumbai. American astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore will be returning back to earth after more than nine months aboard the International Space Station (ISS). (Photo by Ashish Vaishnav/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) (SOPA Images/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett)
“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,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “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.”
Williams completed nine spacewalks during career with NASA, totaling 62 hours and 6 minutes, the most spacewalk time by a woman and fourth-most all-time. Williams also was the first person to run a marathon in space.
“Over the course of Suni’s impressive career trajectory, she has been a pioneering leader,” said Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. “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.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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