Sunita Williams Retires: Sunita Williams, an Indian-origin NASA astronaut, announced her retirement, months after returning from the International Space Station. She was one of two astronauts stuck for months at the International Space Station.
The US space research body, NASA, released a statement on her decision, saying Williams' retirement took effect at the end of December. Her retirement came months after her crewmate on Boeing's ill-fated capsule test flight, Butch Wilmore, retired from NASA. He left the space agency last summer.
NASA's new administrator, Jared Isaacman, called her 'a trailblazer in human spaceflight'. "Congratulations on your well-deserved retirement," he said in a statement.
Sunita Williams Stuck In Space
Williams and Wilmore went to the space station in 2024, the first people to fly Boeing's new Starliner crew capsule, creating history, but things went wrong after the spacecraft, Starliner, caught a technical snag. Their mission should have lasted just a week, but stretched to more than nine months because of Starliner trouble.
Elon Musk's SpaceX Rescued The Duo
After Republican leader Donald Trump became President last year, he acted on his poll promise to bring them back to the earth. He assigned Elon Musk's SpaceX for the rescue mission. The astronauts caught a ride home last March with SpaceX.
Who Is Sunita Williams?
60-year-old Williams is a former Navy captain. She spent more than 27 years at NASA, logging 608 days in space over three station missions. She also set a record for the most spacewalking time by a woman: 62 hours during nine excursions.
Boeing's next Starliner mission will carry cargo not people to the space station. NASA wants to make sure all of the capsule's thruster and other issues are solved before putting anyone on board. The trial run will take place later this year.
My father's from India: Williams At Delhi IIT
Williams on Tuesday addressed an event at Delhi IIT, sharing her views about India, home land of her father.
"Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams says, "One of the first things you do when you get to space is that we all want to look for our home, like our immediate home. I grew up in Massachusetts. My father's from India. My mother's from Slovenia. I'm obviously looking for these places to call home... Every person I know is there, every animal, every plant, everything we know is there. We're all in this one little space in our solar system, and I think it changes your perception about us having any differences. It really makes you feel like we are just one and we all should probably work a little bit closer and easier together," she said.
(With AP inputs)