Question

experience of sunita williams in space mission

Answer 1

• Sunita Williams is an American astronaut who was a member of the Expedition 14 and 15 carried out by the International Space Station.

• She served as a flight engineer in Expedition 32 and as flight commander in Expedition 34 in 2012.

• She was born on September 19, 1965 to Indian scientist Deepak Pandya and Ursuline Bonnie Pandya, who is of Slovene American origin.

• Her paternal ancestry is from Mehsana district in Gujarat and her mother is a Slovene emigrant.

• Sunita graduated from the Massachusetts with a degree in Physical Science in 1983 and gained a Master’s degree in Engineering Management from the Florida Institute of Technology in 1995.

• She joined the United States Navy in May 1987 and after completing a six month assignment she was given the designation of Basic Diving Officer.

• In July 1989, she joined the Naval Air Training Command to attain the title of Naval Aviator.

• She was selected for the NASA astronaut programme in 1998.

• For the NASA programme, Sunita received her training at the Johnsons Space Centre in 1998.

• After completing the training, she worked with the Russian Space Agency and was part of missions sent by the ISS.

• Her first space experience was with the STS 116 launched by the International Space Station. She went aboard the Discovery in 2006 to join crew members on Expedition 14.

• During the expedition, Sunita, after many attempts, completed a spacewalk of 32 hours and 36 minutes.

• In 2007, she also ran the first marathon by a person in orbit, which she completed in four hours and 24 minutes.

• In April 2007, Sunita was brought back to the Earth aboard the Atlantis, during which she broke the record for single spaceflight by a woman.

• In 2012, Sunita was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome as a part of the Expedition 32/33. On this mission, she was accompanied by Japanese astronaut Aki Hoshide and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malechenko.

• She became the second woman to become the Commander of the International Space Station in 2012.

• Also, in September 2012, she became the first person to perform a triathlon in space and completed the task in 48 minutes and 33 seconds.

• She returned back to Earth in November 2012 and landed at

Answer 2

An American Astronaut, Sunita Williams is also a US Navy Officer.

• Williams was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) with STS-116, aboard Space Shuttle Discovery, on December 9, 2006, to join the Expedition 14 crew.

• She held the records for total spacewalks by a woman (seven) and most spacewalk time for a woman (50 hours, 40 minutes).

• Williams served as a mission specialist and returned to Earth on June 22, 2007, at the end of the STS-117 mission.