New Delhi: Indian origin astronaut Sunita Lyn Williams headed for space as part of NASA's 14th expedition to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday. Williams (41) is on board the Soyuz rocket as a flight engineer.
Sunita is the second American woman astronaut with Indian roots to be selected for a space mission by NASA.
Earlier this year, she and two other astronauts were selected to serve as back-up crew for the International Space Station expedition.
The announcement of Sunita's selection came just before the ill-fated Columbia mission resulted in the death of its crew with her more famous predecessor, Kalpana Chawla.
But in spite of her memories of close friend Chawla, Sunita is optimistic and eager to take flight. She says she enjoys every bit of the chills and thrills of her unusual vocation.
Sunita recalls Chawla as a "great and gutsy woman". "It is difficult to believe that she is no longer with us," she had said in an interview sometime back.
Recalling her association with Chawla, Sunita said: "I did not immediately meet her on joining NASA. Of course, her reputation had preceded her. When I did touch base at the NASA space centre, I ferreted her out pretty quickly and we soon became good friends. She was a gracious and unassuming woman. We spent many leisure hours together, took innumerable bike rides, spent time looking at birds, or went on long hikes. And we often flew together in a small airplane."
Sunita's husband Michael is a Federal Police Officer in Oregon. The two have been married for over 16 years now. Both Michael and Sunita flew helicopters in the early days of their career.
Sunita has fond memories of India. "As a child, I looked upon India as a fantasyland, something out of Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book. I remember seeing many palaces of erstwhile maharajas. On my second trip I connected with a lot of my relatives," she recalled in the interview.
"I have been to India thrice - once when I was very small, once in 1998 when I went with my father and sister to Gujarat. And the last trip was just this year after the Columbia tragedy," she told www.verveonline.com.
Asked why she is fascinated by spaces, "I have always wanted to do something different. After watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon, on our small black and white TV, I thought that would be a great thing to do but never dwelled upon it being a real possibility."
In her current sojourn, Sunita will spend six months at the ISS till the summer of 2007. She will be the only one to be part of both Expedition 14 and 15. During her stay, she will assist the robotic team in installing solar array and take about three space walks, apart from carrying out a bunch of science experiments and major computer reconfiguration.
"It's a little overwhelming, but I’m very excited," the Times of India quoted Sunita as saying about her current mission moments before the lift-off.
"It’s my fancy to fly. I’m watching all the assembling now on TV. It’s incredible. My family is all very excited though my dad is a bit nervous. We're having a family reunion soon. My father, mother and brother will be with me during the launch in December," she said.
The woman with Gujarati roots also said that she is "greatly inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, one of my pillars of strength. He has shown how you can achieve things by putting your mind to it."
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