Astronaut Suni Williams to Lead NYC Veterans Day Parade

The woman who ran a marathon aboard the International Space Station will lead a considerably more earthbound march down Fifth Avenue next month. The United War Veterans Council announced Tuesday that retired Navy captain and former NASA astronaut Sunita “Suni” Williams will serve as grand marshal of the NYC Veterans Day Parade, which steps off Wednesday, November 11.

The timing of the announcement was deliberate: the council made it on the 251st anniversary of the U.S. Navy. The parade itself begins at 12:30 p.m. on Fifth Avenue at 26th Street, according to ABC7NY, and this year’s march lands on the 250th birthday of the United States.

For Williams, the honor is a long-delayed one. She was previously named one of three grand marshals for last year’s parade but could not attend because of the 2025 government shutdown. “It is an incredible honor to serve as Grand Marshal of the NYC Veterans Day Parade and to march alongside my fellow veterans,” Williams said in the council’s announcement. “My time in the Navy shaped who I am and prepared me for every challenge that followed. I’m proud to join New Yorkers and Americans from around the country in honoring the service, sacrifice, and commitment of veterans from every generation.”

Mark Otto, a Marine Corps veteran who serves as the council’s president and executive director, said the organization was “incredibly proud to welcome Suni as Grand Marshal of this year’s NYC Veterans Day Parade on the 250th birthday of the United States of America.” He added, “Her dedication and service embody the values we honor each Veterans Day.”

Williams’s record is difficult to summarize in a single paragraph. NASA selected her as an astronaut in 1998, and she retired last year after three space missions totaling 608 days in orbit. Her 62 hours and six minutes of spacewalk time is the most of any female astronaut and fourth on NASA’s all-time list. During Expeditions 14 and 15 in 2006 and 2007, she completed four spacewalks and ran the first marathon in space. In 2012, on Expedition 32/33, she became the second woman to command the space station and completed the first triathlon in space. Her most recent mission, Expedition 71/72, kept her aboard the station for more than nine months across 2024 and 2025, and she again served as commander.

Before NASA, there was the Navy. Williams was commissioned as an ensign after graduating from the United States Naval Academy in May 1987 and trained as a rotary-wing aviator. She deployed to the Persian Gulf for Operation Desert Shield and Operation Provide Comfort, and in September 1992 supported Hurricane Andrew relief as officer-in-charge of an aviation detachment aboard the USS Sylvania. She later attended the United States Naval Test Pilot School and went on to log more than 3,000 flight hours in over 30 different aircraft. A native of Needham, Massachusetts, Williams is of Indian and Slovenian descent; her husband, Michael, is also a former Navy aviator.

The United War Veterans Council, a nonprofit that honors and serves veterans, produces the parade each year. It draws participants from every branch of the military, along with thousands of veterans, service members and youth cadets, plus marching bands, floats, motorcycles and vintage vehicles. The first parade was held in 1919 to commemorate the armistice that ended World War I a year earlier, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Details are posted at uwvc.org.