Sunita Williams Returns Home

May 19, 2025
• Sunita Williams imparted advice and commentary about her space expeditions to students at Needham High School Friday.

Astronaut Sunita Williams received a hero’s welcome in Needham Friday from local students and residents alike. Upon her arrival at Needham High School that afternoon, passing students stopped in their tracks and asked Williams for photos.

As she departed a group of starstruck high schoolers, an administrator asked if this is her life now — she replied, to some effect, “it is in Needham.”

The Needham High School alumna spent the morning at Pollard Middle School before stopping at her namesake elementary school, where she was greeted by 500-some students “screaming their heads off,” Superintendent Dan Gutekanst said.

Though perhaps more subdued, a packed high school auditorium applauded Williams before she doled out words of wisdom, answered students’ questions and recounted the troubled Starliner mission that stretched an eight-day space mission into a nine-month one. Williams and her co-pilot Butch Wilmore returned in March.

All of it was a learning experience, Williams said, and a result of trying something new. Her summer plans fell by the wayside, and she hunkered down for several months onboard the International Space Station.

Still, it’s a trip she wouldn’t trade for the world. The beauty of space, particularly the solar activity she witnessed, became a lesson: stop and look at the foliage.

“If you stop for a moment and look out the window, you’re going to see some amazing things,” she said. “And it might not be your physical window, but if you just stop for a moment and look around on your journey, on your path, you’re probably going to find other things that are really, really worthwhile at understanding, investigating, learning about.”

Williams graduated Needham High in 1983 and joined the Naval Academy, later becoming a helicopter pilot and test pilot. From her high school days swimming on the swim team, to her career at NASA, Williams said she finds joy in being part of a team. It’s something ingrained in Needham Public School students.

“Don’t forget what you learned in kindergarten,” Williams said. “You’re a Needham Rocket. You’re a part of this big team. You help each other out.”

Williams’ New England roots have stayed with her through it all. She’s made fluffernutters on previous missions and, at NHS, quoted Bill Belichick and Boston Marathon Race Director Dave McGillivray. She also plans to run the 2026 Boston Marathon.

Asked how she reacted to her prolonged mission, she said she “never really felt we were stranded.” By staying for a safe return flight, Williams said they could “make the best of what we got”: spacewalks, science experiments and natural phenomena.

“This is what we do, and this is what we love to do. We love to go to space,” Williams said. “This is why I’d say I’m not really stuck.”

Williams has spent 680 days in space and spent the most spacewalk time by any female astronaut in NASA’s history.

Freshmen Molly Lamberg and Lily Stamm closely followed Williams’ journey in space until she made it home. Watching her recount that experience resonated with them both.

“Knowing that someone from Needham, the school that I go to, can do something like that was really cool to hear,” Stamm said.

Senior Alexander Rutley considers Williams, as do other Needhamites, “a hometown hero.” She tossed the coin at the Needham-Wellesley football game, he recalled, calling her “everything Needham is about.”

As she gears up for graduation, senior Ananya Sharma said Williams’ comments on perseverance through failure inspired her.

“She seemed like she was having the time of her life up there,” Sharma said, “so I thought it was a really interesting lesson on how to make the best of whatever situation you’re in.”

Williams also went for a run through Needham that morning and visited Volante Farms. She told Needham Local she planned to catch up with old friends later in the day before flying back to Houston, where she now lives. She also delivered a commencement address to Merrimack College graduates last week and received an honor from Gov. Maura Healey.

But Williams, despite the fanfare, acknowledged her own history with Needham in her youth.

“I went to school here, I was sitting in your seats. I was one of you. So, there’s not much difference,” Williams said. “Just know that between my career and where you are right now… the door is open.”