We are thrilled to have our home-town hero, Sunita Williams, safely back on earth! Her inspiring journeys represent service, courage and adventure, and a Needhamite’s journey to the farthest reaches of human endeavor.
Needham is relieved and thrilled to welcome our astronaut, Sunita Williams, back to earth! She and her colleague Butch Wilmore splashed down safely off the coast of Florida on Tuesday evening, accompanied by a pod of curious and playful dolphins.
When Williams and Wilmore took off in June 2024, they were on a mission to test a new Boeing Starliner capsule that was being built to replace the discontinued space shuttles. The plan was for them to return in eight days. However, after problems arose during the flight out, NASA decided that it was not safe for them to return in that vessel, and brought the Starliner home empty as a precaution. That left the two astronauts at the space station until new transportation could be arranged; it turned out to be more than nine months until that was possible. The pair are now off the Houston for post-flight recovery and check-ups, before returning to their families.
Sunita Williams was born in 1965 in Ohio, and moved to Needham as a child. She was already interested in math and science when she attended the Hillside School, and excelled in those studies at Needham High School, where she graduated in the Class of 1983. She also studied Russian, which turned out to be very useful in the long run.
After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1987, Williams trained as a Naval Aviator deployed with Helicopter Combat Support Squadrons in various locations, including deployments for Operation Desert Shield and Operation Provide Comfort, and later to Florida as part of the Hurricane Andrew relief effort. She was selected for the United States Naval Test Pilot School in 1993, and for NASA’s astronaut training program in 1998. She joined the crew of the International Space Station for her first space assignment in December 2006, returning to earth in June 2007. At the time, her 192 days in space were a record for spaceflight for a woman. She had a second tour on the International Space Station from July to November 2012, serving as the station’s commander.
In September 2015, Sunita Williams became one of the first members of the Commercial Crew Development program, a NASA-administered partnership with SpaceX and Boeing to develop private commercial transportation vehicles for the Space Station. In August 2018, she was assigned to the first mission flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, and her third stay on the Space Station. This flight took place in the summer of 2024, and unexpectedly lasted for nine months. Through the work carried out during that time, Sunita Williams now holds the record for the greatest number of space walks and space-walk hours by a female astronaut.
One of the reasons that I am most proud of Sunita Williams – even apart from her awesome accomplishments in the military and the space program! – is the attention that she pays to Needham’s students. When the new school on Central Avenue was dedicated in 2018, it was named The Sunita Williams School in recognition of how inspirational she has been to Needham’s school kids. She has visited the students at the Williams School in person on numerous occasions, and has even donated some of her equipment and a space suit for display at the school. During her flights, from the very first, NASA has set up communications links from space so she could video-chat with students in the schools, answer their questions, and tell them about her journeys.
Before her first flight in 2006, the Needham History Center received a call from Angela DiNapoli, Williams’ 6th grade teacher. She reported that Williams was hoping to take a Needham town flag into space. Archivist Polly Attridge and her late husband Paul helped her to obtain one. Back on earth after more than six months in space, Cdr. Williams signed and presented the flag to the History Center. The nifty NASA authentication certificate that accompanies the flag gives some details of its (and Sunita’s!) extraordinary journey:
“This Needham Town Flag was flown for the Needham Historical Society aboard the United States Space Shuttle DISCOVERY [on] December 9, 2006… [and] remained onboard the ISS until it was brought back to earth on the United States Space Shuttle ATLANTIS on June 22, 2007.”
- Altitude – 223 statute miles
- Speed – 17,681 mph (Mach 25)
- Distance Traveled: 78,000,000 miles (78 million!!)
- Flight Duration: 194 days, 19 hours, 2 minutes
We are pleased and proud to have this flag in our collections. It is more than a piece of cloth—it represents service, courage and adventure, and a Needhamite’s journey to the farthest reaches of human endeavor.
