Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who recently returned to Earth after spending 286 days in space, recounted her experience when she was passing over India onboard the International Space Station (ISS). On Tuesday, Williams and her fellow NASA astronaut interacted with the media for the first time after coming back to Earth.
Williams, whose father is from India, beautifully described India. During the interview, she talked about mighty Himalayas and the Mumbai-Gujarat coast. Sharing her views on how India looked from space. Williams replied, “just amazing”.
“India is amazing. Every time we went over the Himalayas, Butch (Wilmore, fellow astronaut) got incredible pictures, it is just amazing,” the Indian-origin scientist told reporters.
Notably, Williams often talks about his Indian roots. As per the Williams astronaut, she was awestruck by the views of India’s landscapes. In her media interaction, she mentioned about fishing fleets in the west to the mighty Himalayas in the northern part of India.
And you can see, like I’ve described it before, just like this ripple that happened, obviously when the plates collided, and then as it flows down into India. It’s many, many colours,” she said.
Talking about the fishing fleet in the west, the Indian-origin NASA astronaut said, “I think, when you come from the east, going into like Gujarat and Mumbai, the fishing fleet that’s off the coast there gives you a little bit of a beacon that here we come, and then all throughout India, I think the impression I had was it was just like this network of lights from the bigger cities going down through the smaller cities.”
Williams also shared her experience while passing over the Himalayas. ” Just incredible to look at at night as well as during the day, highlighted, of course, by the Himalayas, which is just incredible as a forefront going down into India,” she said.
The 59-year-old astronaut also expressed her wish to visit his father’s home country. “I hope, and I think for sure, I’m gonna be going back to my father’s home country and visiting with people and getting excited about the first, or not the first, but the Indian national who’s going up on the Axiom Mission coming up, pretty awesome,” Williams added.
The Indian-origin astronaut also expressed her excitement about NASA’s upcoming Axiom mission. This mission will take four astronauts, including Indian Air Force test pilot and ISRO astronaut, Subhanshu Shukla.
For the unversed, Williams’ father Deepak Pandya hailed from Gujarat and came to the US in 1958 where he did his internship and residency training in Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. She was born in Ohio to Deepak and Ursuline Bonnie Pandya.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had welcomed Sunita and her fellow Crew-9 members as they returned to Earth after the prolonged mission to ISS.
Williams and Wilmore returned to Earth after nine months on March 19. Their SpaceX capsule parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico, hours after departing ISS. Two other astronauts who returned to Earth along with Williams and Wilmore are -Nick Hague, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
