Sunita Williams’ cousin on Wednesday expressed her joy after the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut returned to Earth after 286 days and confirmed that she would be visiting India soon.
Talking to NDTV after the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft brought Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, along with two other crew members, back to Earth, Falguni Pandya called the moment of the splashdown “surreal”.
She confirmed that Sunita Williams will soon visit her native country India, and the family plans to go on a vacation.
“We are also planning on going on vacation together. There is going to be a lot of family time,” Pandya was quoted by NDTV as saying.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday wrote a heartfelt letter to Sunita Williams, inviting her to visit India soon.
Williams’s cousin also called the astronaut “a role model”, adding that she makes the best out of every situation she finds herself in. On the topic of the former Navy test pilot returning to space in the future, Pandya said that it would be ‘her choice’.
Pandya also revealed that Williams was excited when she got to know about her trip to the Mahakumbh in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj recently. According to her, the 59-year-old asked her for pictures from the mela.
“She was very excited. She told me to tell her everything about it, ” the cousin said.
End of a 286-day-long saga
Tuesday marked the end of a more than nine-month-long saga that started in June last year when Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore went up to the International Space Station aboard the Boeing Starliner, the spacecraft’s first mission.
But what was supposed to be an eight-day stay turned into 286 days due to problems in the spacecraft’s propulsion system. Finally, the Boeing spacecraft returned empty in September as the crew waited for Elon Musk’s SpaceX crew-9 aboard the Dragon spacecraft.
The replacement crew arrived at the ISS on Friday and Williams, along with Wilmore and two others, undocked after midnight on Tuesday. Their spacecraft splashed down off the Florida coast 17 hours later around 6 pm local time.
There is still some time before Sunita Williams can reunite with her family as the astronaut will be going through extensive health checkups and rehabilitation to acclimatize to Earth again. Her native village is already in celebration mode and will be waiting for her visit in the future.