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Sunita  Sunita Williams India trip started in New Delhi Monday, where she interacted with students at the National Science Centre
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 Sunita L. Williams

  Sunita L. Williams
 
Sunita L. Williams  
  Sunita L. Williams  takes off for second space mission into the space odyssey for the second time on July 14, 2012. She is scheduled to return to earth on November 12, 2012. Day for voting for the US president is November 6. 46-year-old Williams along with two flight engineers — Japan’s Akihiko Hoshide and Yury Malenchenko of Russia — departed on a two-day voyage to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft at around O8:10 IST, Russian news agency Ria Novosti reported. Now Sunita Williams enjoys Olympics from space.
  Sunita Williams is the second woman of Indian heritage to have been selected by NASA for a space mission after Kalpana. She was assigned to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14 and then joined Expedition 15. She holds three records for female space travelers: longest space flight (188 days and counting), number of space walks (four), and total time spent on space walks (29 hours and 17 minutes). Sunita Williams, landed at Edwards  Air Force Base at California at 1.19 am. on June 23, 2007. Sunita Williams Sunita Williams established a world record for females with four space walks totaling 29 hours 17 minutes

  Sunita Williams, a record-setting astronaut who lived and worked aboard the International Space Station for six months in 2006, is headed to the space once again in July. Williams is scheduled to take off on July 14, 2012 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko of the Russian Federal Space Agency and Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, NASA said.46-year-old Williams will be a flight engineer on the station's Expedition 32 crew and will become commander of Expedition 33 on reaching the space station.
  According to NASA, Williams and her colleagues will be aboard the station during an exceptionally busy period that includes two spacewalks, the arrival of Japanese, US commercial and Russian re-supply vehicles, and an increasingly faster pace of scientific research.
  Sunita L. Williams early life
  Sunita Williams was born on September 19, 1965 in Euclid, Ohio. Her parents are Deepak Pandya and Bonnie Pandya, who reside in Falmouth, Massachusetts.Deepak Pandya is a famous neuroanatomist from Gujarat in India. Her parents, Dr. Deepak and Mrs. Bonnie Pandya, reside in Falmouth, Massachusetts.
  Sunita has been to India to visit her father's family. Among the personal items she  took with her to the International Space Station (ISS) are a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a small figurine of Ganesha and some samosas.
 
Sunita L. Williams education was: Needham High School, Needham, Massachusetts, 1983. Bachelor of Science degree in Physical science from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1987, U.S. Naval Academy, 1987. Master of Science degree in Engineering Management from Florida Institute of Technology in 1995.
  Sunita L. Williams was married to Michael J. Williams.
 

 

 

  Sunita L. Williams NASA career
  She joined the Organizations: Society of Experimental Test Pilots, Society of Flight Test Engineers and American Helicopter Association. Sunita L. Williams started  her NASA career in June 1998.  As an expedition 14 flight engineer, she participates in the mission's third planned session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction resumes on the International Space Station.  Selected by NASA in June 1998, Williams began her training in August 1998. Her Astronaut Candidate training included orientation briefings and tours, numerous scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle and International Space Station systems, physiological training and ground school to prepare for T-38 flight training, as well as learning water and wilderness survival techniques. Following a period of training and evaluation, Williams worked in Moscow with the Russian Space Agency on the Russian contribution to the ISS, and with the first expedition crew sent to the ISS. Sunita worked within the Robotics branch on the ISS Robotic Arm and the related Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator.  She was a crewmember on the NEEMO 2 mission, living underwater in the Aquarius habitat for nine days in May 2002. 

   SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE 

   Sunita L. Williams
 
Sunita Williams served as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station. 
  Sunita Williams served as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station. She launched with the crew of STS-116 on December 9, 2006, docking with the station on December 11, 2006. As a member of the Expedition-14 crew Sunita Williams established a world record for females with four space walks totaling 29 hours and 17 minutes of EVA. (Astronaut Peggy Whitson subsequently broke the record in 2008 with her five total spacewalks). 
  Williams concluded her tour of duty as a member of the Expedition-15 crew returning to Earth with the STS-117 crew to land at Edwards Air Force Base on June 22, 2007. During her increment in space, Sunita Williams broke the existing record by Shannon Lucid, setting a new record for females of 195 days in space.

   SPECIAL HONORS
  
Sunita Williams awarded Navy Commendation Medal (2), Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal and various other service awards.
 
Recreational interests
 
Sunita Williams recreational interests include running, swimming, biking, triathlons, windsurfing, snowboarding and bow hunting. She has a pet Jack Russell Terrier named Gorby which was featured with her on the "Dog Whisperer" television show on the National Geographic Channel on November 12, 2010.
  Sunita  Williams visits India
 
Sunita Williams visited India in September 2007. The astronaut, who spent a record 195 days onboard spaceship Discovery, arrived in Ahmedabad on September 18, 2007 a week-long visit to India.  She went to the Sabarmati Ashram set up by Mahatma Gandhi in 1915, and also went her ancestral village Jhulasan in Gujarat. She was awarded the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Vishwa Pratibha Award by the World Gujarati Society, the first person of Indian origin who is not an Indian citizen to be presented the award. She also visited her cousin's home on her nephew's birthday. On October 4, 2007, Williams spoke at the American Embassy School, and then met Indian President Pratibha Patil at Rashtrapati Bhavan. 
  On October 7, 2007 in Mumbai she said, " We are responsible for keeping Earth as we found it. From space, we saw glacier in Himalayas. Major changes are going on the planet and we need to own up to that." 
 On  September 21, 2007 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams is a role model for women and children in the country. Singh, who spoke to the astronaut in Ahmedabad over phone, invited her to visit him in New Delhi. He said she is a "role model" for Indian children and "sources of inspiration for Indian women," a PMO spokesman said.    
  Astronaut Sunita recount the technological challanges associated with the International Space Station to a galaxy of scientists from across the world in Hyderabad on September 20. These scientists - 2000 of them, including head of space agencies of US, Russia, Japan, China, Canada, Europe and India at the  58th International Astronautical Congress held in Hydrabad from September 24- 28.
  Sunita is a Ganesh devotee, and had even taken a Ganesha idol with her when she visited the International Space Station on her record- breaking space flight. Sunita's relatives at her uncle's home in Ahmedabad, who celebrated her visit to Earth with gusto, are also looking forward to seeing her again. "She loves Gujarat and she is returning here after a long time. Sunita is returning to Ahmedabad after a gap of almost ten years. But given her hectic schedule, she might not be able to spend too much time with the family. 

 

   The Second space flight
   The Soyuz-FG rocket booster with Soyuz TMA-05M spaceship carrying a new crew to the International Space Station blasts off from the Russian leased Baikonur Cosmodrome, in Kazakhstan on July 14, 2012. Record-setting Indian-American cosmonaut Sunita Williams along with two other astronauts on July 17, 2012 docked their Russian spacecraft at the International Space Station for a four-month stay.
   46-year-old NASA astronaut Williams, Russian Soyuz Commander Yuri Malenchenko and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency flight engineer Akihiko Hoshide arrived at the ISS after two days in orbit. The crew took off to the ISS successfully from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 15 for a four-month long mission to the space station Williams, a flight engineer on the station’s Expedition 32 crew, will take over as commander of Expedition 33 on reaching the space station.
  A sports lover herself, Sunita Williams is excited about watching the London Olympics from the space and is looking forward to have some sort of relay race at her current home -- the International Space Station.
  Sunita Williams enjoys Olympics from space . Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams, along with five others living aboard the International Space Station for last two weeks, is enjoying the Olympics from space.Sunita Williams enjoys Olympics from space Houston: Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams, along with five others living aboard the International Space Station for last two weeks, is enjoying the Olympics from space.
 
Sunita Williams takes over command at space station
  Sunita Williams has taken over the command of the International Space Station , becoming the second woman in history to do so, even as a three-member crew of the Expedition 32 returned safely to earth, wrapping up a mission lasting more than four months. The three-man crew onboard a Russian-made Soyuz capsule touched down successfully in central Kazakhstan steppe this morning (September 16, 2012) after spending 123 days at the Space Station. Just after the Soyuz spacecraft separated from the space station on September 16, 2012, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams took over command of Expedition 33 at the station from Commander Gennady Padalka, becoming the second woman in history to do so.
  Williams will be sharing the Space Station with veteran Russia cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide until mid-October, when three more astronauts, including NASA astronaut Kevin Ford, will arrive and round out the full crew of Expedition 33.
 
Sunita Williams takes fifth spacewalk
  Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams, who holds the record of the longest space flight (195 days) for a woman, has completed her fifth spacewalk lasting a near record eight hours and 17 minutes on August 30, 2012  Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide set out from the international space station at 5:46 p.m. Thursday (India time) and returned at 2:03 a.m. Friday, the US space agency NASA announced.
 
Sunita Williams wishes 'Happy Diwali' from space
  Sunita Williams has greeted Indians around the world from space on the occasion of  Diwali. "I wish everybody in India and people of Indian origin around the world, Happy Diwali. It is a wonderful day and a wonderful festival and I am happy we are part of it up here at the International Space Station(ISS)," Williams said.
  In a conversation with New York based TV host Riti Sunshine Bhalla, made possible with months of planning between Bhalla's production team and NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Williams thanked the Indian
people for their support and hoped to visit India next Diwali and meet them in person.
  Williams had carried Bhagavad Gita with her to the ISS in her earlier mission in 2006. In her current mission, she carried a picture of 'Om', symbol of Hinduism and a copy of the Upanishads, which her father gifted  to her, the TV show organisers said Tuesday. "It is a small version but it definitely brings the wisdom to us while we are here and allows us to think of the true meaning of life and what we are doing", Williams told Bhalla, displaying her prized possessions while floating in the ISS.
 
Sunita Williams has returned to earth From Outer Space
  Indian−American astronaut Sunita Williams has returned to earth after 127 days in space with a new record under her belt − the most spacewalking time by a female at 50 hours and 40 minutes over seven career excursions. Williams, who was commander of Expedition 33 on the International Space Station returned home with two space−going colleagues aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule that landed at 8:56 p.m. Sunday (November 18, 2012) night northeast of Arkalyk in the steppes of Kazakhstan, according to US space agency NASA. Williams has logged 322 days during two space flights making her second on the list of most experienced US female astronauts. She also holds the record of longest spaceflight (195 days) for female space travellers.
 
India doing excellent in space programmes
  Lauding Indian space agency ISRO, US astronaut Sunita Williams Monday said it was doing an excellent job and wished that more Indian American women follow her and the late Kalpana Chawla into space. She also praised India's lunar mission (Chandrayaan-1 and 2) and the Mars exploration mission schedule for later this year.
  India and the US have agreed to cooperate on future missions to the Moon and Mars after successful collaboration in Chandrayaan-1 lunar mission. Chandrayaan-1, which carried two National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) instruments, successfully found water particles on the Moon's soil with the help of a US instrument. Williams also wished for India to produce more astronauts like Kalpana Chawla - the first Indian-born woman to go into space. "I hope of another Kalpana Chawla going there (space)," said the US Navy captain, clad in a blue flight suit of the kind astronauts wear in space. Chawla, who hailed from Karnal in Haryana, was killed in 2003 when the space shuttle Columbia exploded on re-entry.
  Sunita Williams India trip started in New Delhi Monday, where she interacted with students at the National Science Centre. During the week she will be interacting with students in Kolkata, Mumbai and Gujarat. Williams last visited India in October 2007, when she gave a talk at the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai. 

   Earth from Space -  Photos by Sunita

 Men, women should be treated equally in society and this will avoid rape: Sunita Williams
   Sunita Williams
 
"Men and women should be treated equally in society. This will avoid the sad incidences like the one that happened in Delhi recently," said Sunita Williams on January 04, 2013.
  Addressing the student fraternity at Maharashtra Institute of Technology through video conferencing from the US, she said, "I never looked at myself as a woman in this male dominated career. I never tried to stand out as someone different and gave work my best shot. Instead of saying look at me, I am a woman, I concentrated on my work and that is what matters," said Williams. Williams broke down twice as she was overwhelmed by the reaction of students.

Astronaut duo complete spacewalk to isolate ammonia leak

   Sunita Williams and Hoshidea
  Astronauts Sunita Williams and Hoshidea board the International Space Station (ISS) stepped outside the orbiting outpost on November 1, 2012 to successfully perform an unexpected, US segment-based spacewalk to fix an ammonia leak in the cooling system of a power distribution channel. 
  The Extra Vehicular Activity (EVA) was 20th to be performed on the US Segment by an ISS crew, giving it the designation US EVA-20.Both Williams and Hoshide must return to Earth aboard their Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft on November 19,.

  

 

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