Indian Origin Astronaut Sunita Williams Describes India’s Breathtaking Landscape from Space
Sunita Williams was in awe of the Indian landscape from space. She described India as a land of many colors. The mighty Himalayas were the highlight during the day, while the network of lights was stunning at night.
Astronaut Sunita Williams recently returned to Earth after spending 286 days in space, on March 19, aboard SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft.
She and her colleague, Butch Wilmore, embarked on an eight-day mission to the space station in June. Unfortunately, they got stranded in space due to propulsion issues. However, the pair made a triumphant return in March of this year. The safe return of these two astronauts, after such a long stay in space, was indeed a proud moment for everyone.
Sunita was taken aback as she witnessed the breathtaking landscape of India from above. She described India as a land of many, many colors. During the day, she marveled at the magnificence of the great Himalayas, the beauty of which was captured in numerous pictures clicked by Mr. Wilmore.
In contrast, at night, she witnessed the network of lights stretching from the larger cities all the way down to the smaller ones.
Another highlight was the Mumbai and Gujarat coastline! The fishing fleet off the shores of Gujarat was like a visual beacon, as if indicating that they had arrived.
“India is amazing. Every time we went over the Himalayas, Butch (Wilmore, fellow astronaut) got incredible pictures, it is just amazing,” said Ms Williams.
“I have described it before like this ripple that happened obviously when the plates collided and then, as it flows down into India, it is many-many colours. I think when you come from the East going into Gujarat and Mumbai, and (you see) the fishing fleet that is off the coast there, it gives you a little bit of a beacon, here we come. All throughout India, I think the impression that I had was this network of lights and from the bigger cities going to the smaller cities, and just incredible to look at night as well as during the day highlighted of course by the Himalayas which is just incredible as the forefront going down into India,” she said.
Sunita is eager to visit India which is also her father’s home and meet many people. The 59-year-old astronaut is also excited about NASA’s upcoming mission, called the Axiom mission, which will take four astronauts into space. Indian Air Force test pilot and ISRO astronaut Subhanshu Shukla will also be joining the mission.
“It's pretty awesome. They will have a hometown hero, their own who will be able to talk about how wonderful the International Space Station is from his perspective,” she said.
