Suni Williams retires from NASA after 27 years

After 27 years at NASA, astronaut Suni Williams retired effective Dec. 27, 2025; she completed three International Space Station missions and logged 608 days in space.

Suni Williams retired from NASA effective Dec. 27, 2025, concluding a 27-year career with the agency. She flew three missions aboard the International Space Station and served in leadership roles within the Astronaut Office. Over her career she set several human spaceflight marks and took part in commercial crew test flights. Her experience included operational, training, and international assignments that supported ongoing exploration efforts. Key facts: - Retirement effective Dec. 27, 2025, after 27 years with NASA. - Flew three missions to the International Space Station and served as station commander for Expedition 33 and Expedition 72. - Logged 608 days in space, the second-most cumulative time among NASA astronauts. - Performed nine spacewalks totaling 62 hours and 6 minutes, the most spacewalk time recorded by a woman and fourth-most overall. - Flew on the Boeing Starliner Crew Flight Test in June 2024 and returned to Earth on SpaceX Crew-9 in March 2025. - A retired U.S. Navy captain with a U.S. Naval Academy degree and a master’s in engineering management, and more than 4,000 flight hours. Summary: Williams' long career combined operational missions, leadership roles, and record-setting spacewalks, and NASA officials described her contributions as advancing science, technology, and commercial low-Earth-orbit operations. Her work is presented as part of the foundation for Artemis and future Mars efforts. Undetermined at this time.