Sunita Williams, the Indian-origin astronaut who has spent nine months in space after her 8-day trip to the the International Space Station (ISS) in June last year was unexpectedly extended is finally returning to Earth. NASA in collaboration with Elon Musk’s SpaceX will send its crew into space on March 12 to bring back the stranded astronauts.
NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore are preparing for their homecoming and shared their excitement about returning to Earth in a press conference. The duo have spent months in space since after their Boeing Starliner spacecraft encountered several technical glitches and returned home without them.
In the press conference from the space station, Williams was asked about what she would miss the most about space. Quickly replying she said, “Everything.”
“This has been Butch and mine third flight to the ISS. We helped put it together, we have been up here watching it change. Just living here gives us a unique perspective — not just outside the window, obviously — but on how to solve problems. I don’t want to lose that spark of inspiration and perspective when I leave so I am going to have to bottle it up, somehow,” she said.
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Williams also spoke at length about the hardest part of being stranded in space for months without a clear date of return in sight. “It has been a rollercoaster for them [family and supporters], probably more than it has been for us. We are here, we have a mission. We do what we have to do every day. The hardest thing has been not knowing when we’d come back. All of that uncertainity has been the most difficult part,” she added.
Sunita Williams’ homecoming
NASA astronauts Williams and Wilmore are now closer than ever to their homecoming. Williams, who has been the commander of the ISS, and her fellow astronaut Wilmore are awaiting their replacements’ arrival at the ISS next week
NASA’s Crew-10 mission, which was originally set to bring the due home by the end of March or mid-April has been moved up and is set to launch from Earth on March 12. SpaceX has provided an old capsule to bring the astronauts home by March 19.
The Crew-10 includes NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Takuya Onishi, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. The team will stay on the ISS for a six-month mission.
(Also read: What key challenges NASA’s Sunita Williams will face after return to Earth?)
