Veteran NASA astronaut Sunita Williams — one of the two astronauts stuck for months at the International Space Station (ISS) — has retired, news agency AP reported.

The space agency announced the news on Tuesday, stating her retirement took effect at the end of December last year.

Williams spent over eight months aboard the ISS and returned to the Earth in March 2025 aboard the SpaceX, along with her crewmate, Butch Wilmore.

The pair was launched to the space station in 2024, the first people to fly Boeing’s new Starliner crew capsule. Their mission, meant to last for a week, stretched to over nine months because of Starliner trouble.

NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman called her “a trailblazer in human spaceflight.” “Congratulations on your well-deserved retirement,” he wrote in a statement.

Sunita Williams’ schooling:

Born on September 19, 1965, Williams completed her schooling at Needham High School, Needham, Massachusetts in 1983.

Following her interest in physical science, she was admitted to the US Naval Academy to pursue her bachelor’s degree in physical science in 1987.

She also pursued her master’s in engineering management from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1995.

Sunita Williams’ achievements:

60-year-old Williams, a former Navy captain, spent more than 27 years at NASA, logging 608 days in space over three station missions, the report stated.

She also set a record for the most spacewalking time by a woman: 62 hours during nine excursions, AP reported.