Says, excited to meet people and share experiences, 'view of Himalayas from space was magnificent'
Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams held her first press conference on Tuesday after returning from space. She addressed the media at the Johnson Space Center in Texas, accompanied by fellow astronauts Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague.
Dainik Bhaskar was the only Indian news organisation whose questions Sunita Williams answered. In response to a question from Dainik Bhaskar reporter Utkarsh Kumar Singh, she confirmed that she plans to visit India soon.
Bhaskar reporter Utkarsh Kumar Singh asked Sunita Williams two questions:
First question: The ISRO chief said that India wants to utilise your experience in space exploration. Can we see you working or collaborating with ISRO in the future?
Second question: How was your experience of seeing India from the ISS (International Space Station)? Any particular moment you would like to share? How does India look from space?
Sunita Williams' response: I would like to answer the second question. India is amazing. Every time we passed over the Himalayas, Butch took incredible pictures of the Himalayas.
The view of the Himalayas from space is magnificent. It looked like waves rising and flowing down towards India. India has many colours. When you go from east to west, the fleet of fishing boats present on the coasts signals the arrival of Gujarat and Mumbai.
Across India, from big cities to small towns, you can see a network of lights, which looks incredible at night. Seeing the Himalayas during the day was wonderful.
I will definitely visit India, it's my father's country. People there are excited about the Indian astronaut who will soon go on the Axiom mission. This is great. They will be able to talk about how amazing the International Space Station is from their perspective.
I hope that I can meet them sometime and we can share our experience with as many people as possible in India. India is a great country and an amazing democracy that wants to establish its place among space nations. We would like to be a part of it.
Butch Wilmore asked Sunita Williams jokingly: Will you take your crew members to India too? Sunita replied with a laugh: Definitely... maybe you'll get a little fat, but that's okay. We'll feed you spicy food.
