Sunita Williams Sets Benchmarks In Human Spaceflight

Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams is among NASA’s most accomplished spacefarers, with three long-duration missions aboard the International Space Station and several records in human spaceflight, during her 27-year career.

During her ongoing visit to India, she spoke at the American Center at a session titled “Eyes on the Stars, Feet on the Ground,” where she confirmed the news of her retirement, saying, “Anyone who knows me knows that space is my absolute favourite place to be. It’s been an incredible honour to have served in the Astronaut Office.”

She was selected as a NASA astronaut in 1998. She is a veteran of three space missions: Expeditions 14/15, 32/33, and 71/72. Williams has spent a total of 608 days in space across her three missions. She also ranks sixth among Americans for the longest single spaceflight, spending 286 days in orbit.

Over her career, she carried out nine spacewalks, totalling 62 hours and 6 minutes, the highest spacewalk time by a woman and the fourth-most overall in NASA history. She was also the first person to run a marathon in space.

Williams served Deputy Chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office after her first spaceflight, following Expedition 14/15 and later as ISS Commander during Expedition 33, she spent 127 days in space and carried out repairs including fixing an ammonia leak on the ISS.

During Expedition 72, she surpassed Peggy Whitson’s record for the most spacewalking time by a woman. Her missions included flights on NASA's Space Shuttle, Russia's Soyuz, Boeing's Starliner and SpaceX's Crew-9, making her one of the few astronauts to fly on multiple spacecraft systems.

She is a retired U.S. Navy officer and test pilot and has logged 3,000+ flight hours in 30+ aircraft. She was born in Euclid, Ohio, she considers Needham, Massachusetts her hometown. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Naval Academy and a Master’s degree from Florida Institute of Technology.