NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, of Indian origin, is in the news these days. Her team has returned safely to Earth after spending nine months in space. They intended to be in space for eight days, but technical problems extended their mission. The spacecraft returned without them in September. This week, they landed in a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule with Nick Hague and Alexander Gorbunov.
After landing near Tallahassee, they were taken on stretchers for health checks. Her return is a moment of immense pride for leaders in India and across the globe, and it denotes a significant leap in space exploration. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote an emotional letter to the “illustrious daughter of India”, inviting her to visit India after her return.
The notable figures who hailed her include Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, among others. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed joy: “Our daughter of India returns to us, and we are deeply, deeply happy and elated. We are profoundly happy for Butch Wilmore as well. Hail their courage, hail their return, hail human glory!” Mamata also called for a Bharat Ratna for Sunita in a post on X.
Sunita Williams, 59, is a former US Navy captain. She was born in Ohio to a Gujarati father, Deepak Pandya, from Jhulasan in Gujarat, and a Slovenian mother, Ursuline Bonnie Pandya. Sunita practices Hinduism and brought a copy of the Bhagavad Gita and a Ganesh idol to space. She feels proud of her Indian heritage and said, “Everywhere I have lived, I have had Ganesha with me, so he had to come with me to space. The last time, I brought a small copy of the Upanishads.”
The NASA astronauts will now undergo standard protocol to mitigate physical challenges posed by prolonged weightlessness in space. The astronauts have been sent to Johnson Space Center, Houston, where they will undergo recovery and return to everyday life after some days.
According to Newsweek, Sunita has spent 322 days in space across several missions. She previously held the record for the most spacewalks by a female astronaut, with nine spacewalks, until Peggy Whitson broke the record in 2017. Sunita joined NASA in 1998 and has helped test new space technologies and conduct research on the International Space Station (ISS). She has married former police officer Michael J. Williams for over 20 years.
What began as an eight-day mission became a remarkable testament to the astronauts’ resilience. Their extended stay, included over 4,500 orbits and a staggering journey of more than 121 million statute miles. Experts worry that spending a long time in microgravity can cause health problems for astronauts when they return to Earth’s gravity.
NASA maintains that transitioning from one gravity field to another is trickier than it sounds. “It affects spatial orientation, head-eye and hand-eye coordination, balance, and locomotion, with some crew members experiencing space motion sickness,” the US agency stated.
The rehabilitation program includes daily two-hour sessions. These sessions help improve mobility, build muscle strength, and increase endurance. Life on the International Space Station (ISS) follows a set routine. The focus is on dealing with weightlessness, fluid shifts in the body, and the loss of bone density. Also, their extended stay has provided valuable scientific insights into space exploration. Their endurance in the face of balance issues, dizziness, and muscle weakness, common due to the legs and back not supporting body weight, is laudable. Although both astronauts have carried out their mission, adjusting to the Earth will take a while.
US President Donald Trump has turned the issue of stranded astronauts into a political matter. He blamed former President Joe Biden for not helping them. The White House’s official X account said, “PROMISE MADE, PROMISE KEPT: President Trump promised to rescue the stranded astronauts while criticising Joe Biden.” Trump mentioned Sunita, the woman with wild hair, in his comments.
Trump explained why he has not yet invited NASA astronauts to the White House. “They have to get better. You have no pull in your muscles and gravity when you are up there (in space). You can lift a thousand pounds like this,” the US President told Fox News.
Sunita and her crew’s return is a key success in space exploration. This mission will give us valuable data for future trips and improve spacecraft technology. This mission was critical because it will help scientists learn about the effects of being in space for a long time. This information will assist NASA and other space agencies plan future missions, like sending humans to Mars. (IPA Service)
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