Suni Williams has officially announced her retirement, bringing an end to her 27-year profession at NASA and cementing her place in history as a modern-day legend. In her time as an astronaut, Williams spent 608 days in space, making her certainly one of only two NASA astronauts to ever spend greater than a cumulative 600 days in space. Her longest single stint lasted 286 days, tying Butch Wilmore for the sixth-longest spaceflight by an American.
Along with three International Space Station missions, Williams notched nine spacewalks in her profession, totaling 62 hours and 6 minutes, while earning her the excellence of spending more time spacewalking than another woman and tying her for fourth place on NASA’s all-time list. She’s also the primary person to have ever run a marathon in space. In a press release, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said:
Suni Williams has been a trailblazer in human spaceflight, shaping the longer term of exploration through her leadership aboard the space station and paving the best way for industrial missions to low Earth orbit. Her work advancing science and technology has laid the muse for Artemis missions to the Moon and advancing toward Mars, and her extraordinary achievements will proceed to encourage generations to dream big and push the boundaries of what is possible. Congratulations in your well-deserved retirement, and thanks on your service to NASA and our nation.
Lost in space
Williams’ first spaceflight took place in December 2006 aboard the space shuttle Discovery, before returning on space shuttle Atlantis with the STS-117 crew, and she or he was a flight engineer for Expeditions 14/15. That was also when she accomplished 4 spacewalks, which set a brand new record on the time. But while she was no stranger to spending long periods of time in space and had accomplished a 127-day mission back in 2012, her most up-to-date spaceflight will probably remain her most memorable.
In June 2024, Williams returned to the ISS with Wilmore aboard the SpaceX Starliner. Unfortunately for the 2 astronauts, what was alleged to be a comparatively short trip ended up dragging on for much longer than anticipated when problems with the Tesla of spaceships prevented them from returning to Earth as planned. While they did eventually make it back, further delays kept them trapped aboard the ISS for greater than nine months. Unfortunately for each Williams and Wilmore, there is not much money in getting stuck in space, as they only received an additional $1,430 for his or her prolonged work trips.
Prior to joining NASA, Williams grew up in Needham, Massachusetts, before attending the United States Naval Academy, where she earned her bachelor’s in physical science. After graduating from the Naval Academy, she got her master’s in engineering management from the Florida Institute of Technology and went on to log greater than 4,000 flight hours in at the least 40 different helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. In a press release, Williams said:
Anyone who knows me knows that space is my absolute favorite place to be. It has been an incredible honor to have served within the Astronaut Office and have had the chance to fly in space thrice. I had an incredible 27-year profession at NASA, and that is principally due to all of the wonderful love and support I’ve received from my colleagues. The International Space Station, the people, the engineering, and the science are truly awe-inspiring and have made the following steps of exploration to the Moon and Mars possible. I hope the muse we set has made these daring steps just a little easier. I’m super excited for NASA and its partner agencies as we take these next steps, and I can not wait to observe the agency make history.
This Article First Appeared At www.jalopnik.com
