Retired NASA astronaut Suni Williams set for April 20 start at the 130th Boston Marathon
A hometown return to Marathon Monday
Retired NASA astronaut Sunita “Suni” Williams, a Needham native and former U.S. Navy captain, is set to run the 130th Boston Marathon on Monday, April 20, 2026. Race organizers confirmed her entry in the field expected to stretch from the start in Hopkinton to the finish on Boylston Street.
The appearance places one of the most recognizable figures in recent U.S. human spaceflight back on a course she has long linked to her personal history. Williams has said her earliest Boston Marathon memory as a participant dates to her teens, when she set out to cover the route before leaving for college and beginning her Navy career.
From spaceflight milestones to a road marathon
Williams retired from NASA effective Dec. 27, 2025, closing a 27-year career that included three missions to the International Space Station and a series of endurance-related milestones. Over her career, she logged 608 cumulative days in space, and completed nine spacewalks totaling 62 hours and 6 minutes.
Her name has also been tied to marathon history beyond Massachusetts. In April 2007, while in orbit, she completed the marathon distance on a treadmill aboard the space station, an effort widely recognized as the first marathon run in space.
Context: the extended Starliner test flight
Williams became a central figure in the Boeing Starliner program after launching on June 5, 2024, on the spacecraft’s first crewed test flight alongside fellow NASA astronaut Barry “Butch” Wilmore. The mission was expected to last about a week, but spacecraft issues prevented their planned return on Starliner and extended their stay aboard the space station to 286 days.
The astronauts ultimately returned to Earth in March 2025 on a SpaceX vehicle after Starliner came back without crew. Wilmore later retired from NASA in 2025. Williams continued with the agency until her retirement at the end of 2025.
What to know about the 2026 Boston Marathon field
The 130th Boston Marathon is scheduled for Patriots’ Day, with a maximum field size set at 30,000 entrants. The event remains one of the world’s most competitive mass-participation marathons, with entry primarily determined through qualifying times and additional invitational and charity pathways.
- Date: Monday, April 20, 2026
- Course: Hopkinton to Boston’s Back Bay finish on Boylston Street
- Field size: 30,000 athletes
Williams’ Boston start comes after a career defined by long-duration missions, intensive training demands, and record-setting time outside the station during spacewalks.
Her participation adds a high-profile local storyline to Marathon Monday, connecting a Massachusetts-raised astronaut’s post-retirement chapter with the region’s best-known athletic event.