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| Sunita all set to become 2nd Indian origin woman in space | | |
HOUSTON, DEC 4
Sunita Williams is all set to become the second woman of Indian origin after Kalpana Chawla to blast off on a space mission and spend six months at the International Space Station where US shuttle Discovery will leave her on completion of a 12-day repair job.
Sunita, 41, the daughter Deepak and Bonnie Pandya, arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a final stretch of training and preparations for Friday's shuttle mission STS-116, the first night launch since the 2003 Columbia disaster.
The spaceflight is scheduled to lift off at 8:05 IST on Friday (Thursday, 9:35 p.M. US time) will take along the most rookie crew since 1988 as five of the seven members have never flown in space before.
Besides Sunita, the crew includes mission commander Mark Polansky, pilot William Oefelein, mission specialists Joan Higginbotham; Nicholas Patrick; lead spacewalker Bob Curbeam; and the European Space Agency's Christer Fuglesang, who will become the first Swede in space.
Describing as having most culturally diverse space shuttle crew, Sunita said she was aware of her mixed ethnicity and the interest her spaceflight has aroused in India.
"I am half Indian and I have got a, I am sure, a group of Indian people who are looking forward to seeing this second person of Indian origin, flying up in space," she said in a pre-flight interview released by NASA.
NASA says the Discovery shuttle will be on the most complex mission yet -- to give the International Space Station a new electricity system. The STS-116 will drop off Sunita for a six-month stay at the space lab.
German astronaut Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency, will return to Earth in place of Sunita.
"I just can't wait to get to my new home," she said.
"I have always wanted to fly a long-duration mission," Sunita said. "A long-duration spaceflight will supply answers ... To what happens to the human body, how materials work in space."
Unlike Chawla, who was born in Karnal in Haryana, Sunita was born and brought up in the US.
Born in Ohio to Deepak N Pandya, a physician who migrated to the US and Ursaline B Pandya, she grew up and went to school in Massachusetts. She has a B.S., Physical Science degree from the US Naval Academy, and a M.S. In Engineering Management from Florida Institute of Technology.
In two spacewalks the astronauts will rewire the orbiting station, replacing its eight-year-old temporary power cable system with a permanent one, made possible after the previous mission in September installed two huge electricity- generating solar array panels on the ISS.
Sunita is expected to take a spacewalk with her Discovery colleague Robert Curbeam to help rewire the ISS space lab and also operate the space station's robotic arm, among other tasks.
Visitors enter Parliament complex with invalid passes
Trained to remain aboard the space station until July, Williams will also join space station commander Mike Lopez-Alegria for three spacewalks early next year.
"My eyes are set on getting out the door, doing my first spacewalk and getting acclimated to living in space.
"I'm just really happy to be here. It's been a long time coming," Sunita said, adding that she's spoken with her Expedition 14 crewmate-to-be Mikhail "Misha" Tyurin.
"Misha Tyurin called the other day and said 'Suni, we're waiting for you!, so I just can't wait to get to my new home." |
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