Suni Williams retires after 27 years at NASA, leaving a legacy in spacewalking and the Starliner saga

NASA astronaut Suni Williams has retired after 27 years with the agency, holding the record for the most spacewalk time by a woman (over 62 hours) and accumulating 608 days in space. Her career included three flights and a pivotal role in Boeing’s Starliner test, which lasted 286 days on the ISS in 2024 due to technical issues, followed by a return on a SpaceX Dragon capsule. Her departure coincides with NASA’s Artemis program progression, signaling a generational shift in U.S. human spaceflight; Williams also made history as the first astronaut to run a marathon in orbit.