NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore’s nine-month-stay in space finally ended on March 19, after they landed back on Earth on SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft. They were “rescued” by another astronaut Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.

The four-member Crew-9 left the International Space Station (ISS) on March 18, and after completing an over 15-hour journey, they splashed down off the Florida coast around 3:30 am on March 19.

The world keenly watched Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore’s homecoming. In the last two days, the online search for Sunita Williams, as per Google trends, touched 2 million. As this intriguing space journey came to an end, here’s a detailed recap about Sunita Williams and her Starliner, SpaceX missions.

Who is Sunita Williams?
Sunita Williams is a well-known NASA Astronaut and US Navy Captain (Ret). She was born on September 19, 1965 in Euclid, Ohio to Dr. Deepak and Bonnie Pandya. She considers Needham, Massachusetts, to be her hometown.

Sunita Williams studied at Needham High School, Needham, Massachusetts, in 1983. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Physical Science from US Naval Academy, 1987. She also completed her Master of Science in Engineering Management from Florida Institute of Technology in 1995.

Sunita Williams’ age and family
Sunita Williams is 59 years old. Sunita and her husband Michael enjoy hanging out with their dogs, working out, hiking and camping, per her NASA profile.

Is Sunita Williams Indian?
Sunita Williams has roots in India. She was the second American astronaut of Indian heritage to go into space, after Kalpana Chawla.

Her father Deepak Pandya was a neuroanatomist and was born in the Jhulasan village in Gujarat, India. Sunita Williams’ cousin recently told News 18 in an interview, “Sunita is a proud daughter of Gujarat, and her village, Jhulasan, is celebrating her return.”

Sunita Williams’s space experience
Sunita Williams was the Starliner Crew Flight Test Pilot. She is the veteran of three space missions (Expeditions 14/15, 32/33 and 71/72). She was the ISS commander for Expedition 33.

Why was Sunita Williams ‘stuck’ in space?
First, NASA has maintained that she was not “stuck" or “stranded" in space. The space agency had a lifeboat ready at all the times to rescue the two Starliner astronauts (Sunita and Bucth). The agency was just waiting for the right time to bring them back, an official said on Wednesday.
Coming to the mission, NASA astronauts Sunita 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.
Initially expected to last around a week, their Starliner mission was extended to more than nine months due to issues with their Boeing Starliner capsule, which delayed their return.

Following NASA’s decision to return Starliner uncrewed, the duo became Expedition 71/72 crewmembers and returned home in March 2025, aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission.