When Sunita Williams spoke to students and teachers at the Science City in Calcutta and Delhi, they listened to her in rapt attention. Who is Sunita Williams? She is an American astronaut who holds several space-records for women — the most space-walk time (50h/40m), space-walk days (29) and number of times (7). Sunita has spent 322 days in space in two missions – Expedition 14/15 and Expedition 32/33.
Sunita's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Pandya, are from Gujarat. They shifted to Ohio, U.S.A and Sunita was born there on September 19, 1965. The family moved to Needham, Massachusetts. After finishing high school, Sunita did her BS (Physics) at the Naval Academy and MS in Engineering Management at the Florida Institute of Technology.
The journey
In 1983, Sunita joined the US Naval Academy and trained to be pilot. By July 1989, she was flying helicopters to help soldiers and civilians in dangerous areas. In ten years, she had flown 30 different aircraft and logged 2,770 flight hours. She entered astronaut training in 1998 and learnt robotics, shuttle and space station systems, how to live and work in weightlessness and survival. She even lived underwater for nine days. On December 9, 2006, Sunita flew aboard space-shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station. She returned on June 22, 2007. Sunita is married to Michael J. Williams.
Space exploration is the “right way to go,” she told the students. At first she had many failures, but she kept trying. Before her first space-journey, she was nervous. “After what happened to Columbia (Kalpana Chawla died in this disaster), there was a lot of work to make space-shuttles safe.”
“Space-ride is risky,” she agreed, “but you just solve problems.” She carried with her, a copy of the Upanishads and Bhagvad Gita and read them. “I also carried samosas, you can never have enough of them,” she laughed. Sunita loves Indian food.
She said she had seen almost the whole of India from space, but wanted to travel to the South and explore the Himalayas on foot.
Technology today allows us to try new things, she said. “I wish I was 20 years younger and could start my career all over again.” But kids are smart now, “You will give me stiff competition,” she added, laughing. But because people like her went about their jobs passionately, space travel has become easier now.
Check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUks2BROvWg
http://www.wimp.com/orbitaltour/
