India<\/p>\n
oi-Oneindia Staff<\/p>\n
| Updated: Monday, July 20, 2020, 12:02 [IST] <\/p>\n
New Delhi, July 20: Sunita Williams holds the record of the longest space flight for a woman but as a child, the Indian American astronaut had never thought about voyaging into space ever.<\/p>\n
Williams, who has made 7 spacewalks and spent more than 321 days in space was addressing a webinar organised by the APJ Abdul Kalam Centre on \"Our Place In Space\", on Sunday evening.<\/p>\n
\"I grew up in a family with dad who immigrated from India, and my mother who was an X-ray technician in a hospital, they met each other when he was going through residency. I came from a humble family, me, my brother, we all knew that we should work hard, I never envisioned to be an astronaut. As a child I liked swimming, I was an athlete and I liked animals and wanted to be a veterinary doctor,\" Williams said.<\/p>\n
The daughter of neuroanatomist Dr Deepak Pandya and his wife, Bonnie, of Massachusetts, Williams graduated from the US Naval Academy, became an engineer and a test pilot before being selected by NASA's Astronaut Candidate School in 1998.<\/p>\n
Williams is among the four astronauts picked by Nasa on Friday to train for a programme which will one day land an American on Mars. She will be flying to the International Space Station in Boeing's Starliner spacecraft in the next few months.<\/p>\n
Nasa's unmanned Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, which is provisionally slated for launch on July 30, could pave the way for a manned mission to the Red Planet subsequently, Indian-American astronaut, Sunita Williams, stated.<\/p>\n
\"We should go to Mars. It is entirely a different place and it is important we plan how to sustain there. I am sure this will happen in our generation,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Watch the full interview here:<\/p>\n
She said that Nasa's Artemis mission, which aims to put a man and the first woman in the south pole region of the moon by 2024, will also help in planning a human mission to the Red Planet.<\/p>\n
\"Nasa is working with oceanographic institutes, planning a flight to one of Jupiter's moons by sending a submarine to its ocean,\" she added.<\/p>\n
The role of this mission will be in the area of astrobiology. She said that the view of earth from space leaves one awestruck.<\/p>\n
\"When I had my first glimpse I said vow, how peaceful, beautiful and incredible it is,\" she said emphasising that it gave sense of oneness.<\/p>\n
Williams also shared her experience in space as she enjoyed eating samosas and took with her the Bhagwad Gita and the Upanishad which her father had gifted her.<\/p>\n
\"Working with our international partners drives cooperation and makes one think of just one world,\" Williams said.<\/p>\n
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\"Boundaries that divide countries disappear when scientists and astronauts work together to fuel scientific discovery on and off the planet\", she added.<\/p>\n
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Sunita Williams on her time in space and the Mars mission - Oneindia<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" India oi-Oneindia Staff | Updated: Monday, July 20, 2020, 12:02 [IST] New Delhi, July 20: Sunita Williams holds the record of the longest space flight for a woman but as a child, the Indian American astronaut had never thought about voyaging into space ever. Williams, who has made 7 spacewalks and spent more than 321 days in space was addressing a webinar organised by the APJ Abdul Kalam Centre on \"Our Place In Space\", on Sunday evening. \"I grew up in a family with dad who immigrated from India, and my mother who was an X-ray technician in a hospital, they met each other when he was going through residency. Continue reading