Earlier this year (2003), Sunita Lyn Williams was appointed, along with two others, to serve as back-up crew for the international space station expedition.... As her remarks reveal, she is optimistic and eager to take flight...

Kalpana Chawla
Kalpana was a great and gutsy woman…. We spent many leisure hours together, took innumerable bike rides, spent time looking at birds or went on long hikes. And we often flew together in a small airplane.

Daring to be different
After watching astronaut Neil Armstrong walk on the moon, on our small black and white TV, I thought that would be a great thing to do but never dwelled upon it being a real possibility…. Interestingly, my becoming a space person was by sheer accident.… Before becoming an astronaut, I thought for sure the best view of the earth was from a helicopter. You can see and capture the details of the great breathtaking planet that we live on.

Empowering experience
In 1998, I was appointed as a mission specialist at NASA. I came to the project a little later than the others. But it hit me soon enough that this was not a simulator where, if something goes wrong, you can just open the door and go home. Naturally, the training was very intensive…. I had to attend sessions at Aquarius, an underwater habitat, about the size of the space module that we would eventually take…. We spent nine days underwater in the simulation of conditions that we would face in outer space. It was a very stimulating and skill empowering experience.

Indian visits
I have been to India thrice - once when I was very small, once in 1998 when I went with my father and sister to Gujarat. And the last trip was just this year after the Columbia tragedy.
As a child, I looked upon India as a fantasyland, something out of Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book. I remember seeing many palaces of erstwhile maharajas.

A tryst with space
Why am I fascinated by the wide spaces out there? For me, the cosmos has no geographical dimensions. The international space station represents humanity....
When I eventually step out into the galaxy, I am sure I shall spend time looking at our earth. With just the helmet visor between it and me, I am sure I would see just how magnificent it is and yet how fragile.

The element of risk
My profession has its fair share of dangers. But, that does not worry me. I believe that there is something greater than, and beyond, human beings. Growing up with a Hindu father and a Catholic mother has given me an appreciation and tolerance for all religions. Our faith in a greater being teaches us humility and gives us the confidence we need.