Sunita Williams

Sunita Lyn Williams was born on September 19, 1965, in Euclid, Ohio, to an Indian-American father and a Slovenian-American mother, a dual heritage she has carried into orbit alongside a copy of the Bhagavad Gita and a small statue of Ganesha. She earned a bachelor's degree in physical science from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1987 and later a master's in engineering management from the Florida Institute of Technology. Commissioned into the U.S. Navy, she trained as a helicopter pilot and eventually a test pilot, flying more than thirty different aircraft and supporting relief operations during Hurricane Andrew. That combination of operational flying and test-pilot rigor made her a natural candidate for NASA, which selected her as an astronaut in 1998.

Williams first launched on December 9, 2006, aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-116, joining the station for Expeditions 14 and 15. During that long-duration stay she set an early mark for female spacewalkers and, in April 2007, ran the Boston Marathon from orbit on a treadmill aboard the ISS, finishing in about four hours and twenty-four minutes. She returned to the station in 2012 for Expeditions 32 and 33, flying up on a Soyuz and serving as commander of Expedition 33. Her third flight became one of the most closely watched in modern spaceflight: on June 5, 2024, she and Barry Wilmore launched on Boeing's CST-100 Starliner Calypso for its first crewed test, a mission planned for roughly eight days. Thruster and helium problems in the Starliner service module led NASA to bring the capsule home uncrewed and keep the two astronauts aboard the ISS, where Williams commanded Expedition 72. She finally returned on March 18, 2025, aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon with Crew-9, after some 286 days in space.

Across three missions Williams logged roughly 608 days in space — about 14,600 hours — and completed nine spacewalks totaling about 62 hours: the most cumulative EVA time of any woman, and fourth on NASA's all-time list. She holds distinction as the first commander of a crewed Boeing Starliner flight and as the runner of the first marathon in space. Widely celebrated in both the United States and India, where she was honored with the Padma Bhushan, she has been an outspoken advocate for STEM education, the Special Olympics, and drawing more young women into science and engineering. NASA announced her retirement in January 2026, closing a career defined as much by her composure during the drawn-out Starliner saga as by the records she set.