Longtime NASA astronaut Suni Williams announced her retirement Tuesday — officially making the unexpectedly long Boeing Starliner test flight her final foray to orbit as a member of the astronaut corps.
Williams, who has set multiple spaceflight records since joining the agency in 1998, did not give insight into the timing of her retirement in a statement issued by the space agency on Tuesday.
“Anyone who knows me knows that space is my absolute favorite place to be,” Williams said. “It’s been an incredible honor to have served in the Astronaut Office and have had the opportunity to fly in space three times.”
Williams first traveled to the International Space Station in 2006 aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery and returned to orbit in a Russian Soyuz capsule in 2012.
But her latest mission, in which she and fellow NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore set out to test fly Boeing’s new Starliner capsule on its first crewed mission, was perhaps her most well-known.
Wilmore and Williams had expected to spend about a week on the space station during the test flight. But the duo ultimately stayed more than nine months because of technical issues that cropped up en route with the Starliner vehicle — which NASA opted to fly home empty due to safety concerns.
Williams and Wilmore garnered international attention for their experience, though both astronauts reiterated frequently that they enjoyed their time in orbit and were well-prepared for their unexpectedly long stay.
“I had an amazing 27-year career at NASA, and that is mainly because of all the wonderful love and support I’ve received from my colleagues,” Williams said in a statement. “The International Space Station, the people, the engineering, and the science are truly awe-inspiring and have made the next steps of exploration to the Moon and Mars possible. I hope the foundation we set has made these bold steps a little easier.”
Williams has logged 608 days in space, the second-most cumulative amount of time by a NASA astronaut behind Peggy Whitson.
She has also accrued 62 hours free-floating in space across nine different spacewalks, making her the highest-ranking woman in that category and fourth in the world.
Williams also claimed several notable firsts during her time in orbit: In 2012, for example, she became the first person to finish a triathlon in space. Williams used a stationary bike, simulated swimming with a weight-lifting machine and ran on a treadmill while strapped in by a harness so she wouldn’t float away. (Earlier, in 2007, Williams had also become the first person to run a marathon in space.)
“Over the course of Suni’s impressive career trajectory, she has been a pioneering leader,” Vanessa Wyche, director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a statement. “From her indelible contributions and achievements to the space station, to her groundbreaking test flight role during the Boeing Starliner mission, her exceptional dedication to the mission will inspire the future generations of explorers.”
Williams’ exit from the astronaut corps comes months after she and Wilmore returned from the space station, concluding their test flight mission.
Wilmore’s and Williams’ departures from NASA follow the example set by Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, the two astronauts who piloted the first crewed test flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule in 2020. That mission, which did not involve any major technical hangups or issues, marked the last for both Behnken and Hurley, who have each since retired.
It’s common for astronauts who have been with the agency for many years to announce their retirement upon return from a major milestone, such as test piloting a new spacecraft.
It’s not clear when the Starliner capsule will fly again. NASA revealed that it plans to fly the spacecraft’s next mission without crew members, opting to treat the mission as another uncrewed test flight.
The Starliner spacecraft experienced thruster outages and gas leaks during Williams and Wilmore’s flight, but both astronauts said they would fly on Starliner again, given the opportunity.
“The spacecraft is really capable,” Williams said in a post-flight news conference last year. “There’s a couple things that need to be fixed. Folks are actively working on that. But it is a great spacecraft, and it has a lot of capability that other spacecraft don’t have, and to be a part of that program is an honor.”
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