Sunita Williams (born Sunita Pandya DOBSep19, 1965) is an Indian - American Astronaut and US Navy Officer who holds the record for longest spaceflight by a woman(195 days).
She was assigned to the International Space Station(ISS) as a member of Expedition 14 and then joined Expedition 15.
ISS is a habitable Artificial Satellite in low earth orbit(below an altitude of 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles)
Expedition 14 was the 14th expedition to the ISS. Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria and Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sep 18, 2006, 04:09 UTC, aboard Soyuz TMA-9. They joined Thomas Reiter, who had arrived at the ISS 6 July 06, 2006 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery during mission STS -121. In December 2006, Discovery mission STS -116 brought Sunita Williams to replace Thomas Reiter as the third member of Expedition 14. On April 21, 2007, López-Alegría and Tyurin returned to Earth aboard TMA-9. Among the personal items Williams took with her to the ISS were a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a small figurine of the Hindu Deity Ganesha and some Samosas.
Spacewalks
On January 31, February 4, and February 9, 2007, she completed 3 spacewalks from the ISS with Michael Lopez Alegria. On the 3rd spacewalk, Sunita Williams was outside the station for 6 hours 40 minutes to complete three space walks in 9 days. She has logged 29 hours and 17 minutes in 4 space walks, eclipsing the record held by Kathryn C Thomton for most spacewalk time by a woman.
Marathon Walk
On April 16, 2007, she ran the first marathon by an astronaut in orbit.Sunita Williams finished the 2007 Boston Marathon in 4 hours and 24 minutes.
Return to Earth
Sunita Williams returned to Earth on June 22, 2007 at the end of the STS-117 mission after a record 195-day stay in space.
Honour
Sunita Williams was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour in 2008
No comments:
Post a Comment