Sunita Williams

Sunita (Suni) L. Williams was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1998 and is a veteran of three space missions, Expeditions 14/15, 32/33 and 71/72. NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore launched aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft on June 5, 2024, for its first crewed flight, arriving at the International Space Station on June 6. Following the agency’s decision to return Starliner uncrewed, the duo became Expedition 71/72 crewmembers and returned home in March 2025 aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission. Williams has completed 62 hours and 6 minutes of total spacewalk time over the course of her career, the most of any female astronaut, and fourth on NASA’s all-time list. Williams has logged 608 days in space over her three flights.

Williams was born on September 19, 1965 in Euclid, Ohio to Dr. Deepak and Bonnie Pandya. She considers Needham, Massachusetts to be her hometown. She and her husband enjoy hanging out with their dogs, working out, working on houses, working on cars, working on airplanes, hiking, and camping.