Suni Williams: NASA astronaut stuck at International Space Station retires within year of return to Earth
NASA’s Suni Williams — one of two astronauts stuck for months at the International Space Station — has retired.
The space agency announced the news Tuesday, saying her retirement took effect at the end of December.
Williams’ crewmate on Boeing’s ill-fated capsule test flight, Butch Wilmore, left NASA last summer.
Sign up to The Nightly's newsletters.
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The pair launched to the space station in 2024, the first people to fly Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule. Their mission should have lasted just a week, but stretched to 286 days because of multiple technical issues with their capsule.
In the end, they caught a ride home last March with SpaceX.
Boeing’s next Starliner mission will carry cargo — not people — to the space station. NASA wants to make sure all of the capsule’s thruster and other issues are solved before putting anyone on board. The trial run will take place later this year.
Williams, 60, a former Navy captain, spent more than 27 years at NASA, logging 608 days in space over three station missions. She also set a record for the most spacewalking time by a woman: 62 hours during nine excursions.
NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman called her “a trailblazer in human spaceflight.”
“Congratulations on your well-deserved retirement,” he added in a statement.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
