WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 -- Veteran NASA astronaut Sunita "Suni" Williams has retired after 27 years of service, marking the end of a distinguished career in human spaceflight.

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Williams, a former Navy pilot, joined NASA in 1998 and became known for her extensive missions aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Her most recent assignment, which began in 2024, extended unexpectedly from a planned week to nine months due to technical issues with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft.

During this mission, Williams spent 286 days aboard the ISS alongside astronaut Butch Wilmore before returning to Earth in March 2025 via the SpaceX Dragon capsule. Over her career, she accumulated a ...