Retd astronaut Sunita Williams at the US Embassy in New Delhi (PTI photo)
NEW DELHI: Calling her visit to India a homecoming, Indian-origin Nasa astronaut Sunita Williams on Tuesday said India held personal importance for her as it was the country where her father was born.Speaking at an interactive session at the American Center in New Delhi, Williams said, “One of the first things you do when you get to space is that we all want to look for our home, like our immediate home. I grew up in Massachusetts. My father’s from India. My mother’s from Slovenia. I’m obviously looking for these places to call home.”
Williams also spoke about her extended stay aboard the International Space Station after an eight-day mission stretched to more than nine months due to technical issues with the Boeing spacecraft. Recalling life aboard the ISS, she said, “We are not the best singers, but we can make space cakes,” drawing laughter from the audience. “You would see almost 12 people on the ISS at one point in time,” she said.Reflecting on how space travel changed her outlook, Williams said, “It really makes you feel like we are just one,” adding that differences between people seem far smaller when seen from orbit.”Every person I know is there, every animal, every plant, everything we know is there. We’re all in this one little space in our solar system, and I think it changes your perception about us having any differences. It really makes you feel like we are just one and we all should probably work a little bit closer and easier together,” Williams said.
