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She'll be honored with the B.A.A.'s Patriots' Award

Astronaut Suni Williams, a Massachusetts native who was stuck aboard the International Space Station for months after trouble with an experimental spacecraft, will be among the thousands racing from Hopkinton to Back Bay in the 130th Boston Marathon on Monday.

She's familiar with the iconic race, but says marathons are always challenging.

"They always intimidate me. They're always terrible at some point in time," she said, laughing.

Williams said she's confident that she can go the distance and is experienced enough to give herself grace if she needs it along the 26.2-mile course.

"It's going to be hard. So, at some point in time, you're just going to have to dig deep a little bit just to keep going," she said.

Williams and fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore returned to Earth in March 2025 after a planned one-week test flight into space turned into a 286-day odyssey when they experienced issues with their vehicle's thrusters.

Williams, 60, a former Navy captain and Needham native, spent more than 27 years at NASA, logging 608 days in space over three station missions. She also set a record for the most spacewalking time by a woman: 62 hours during nine excursions.