Sunita Williams Opens Up On 8-Day Space Mission Turned Into 286 Days, Life After Retirement – Exclusive

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Delhi: NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, who has recently announced her retirement from the space agency and is currently visiting India, in an exclusive conversation with Times Now, said that she’s an astronaut and loves being in space.Williams noted that the potential to explore space is extraordinary and the "only limit is your imagination".The Indian-origin astronaut said that when she was a kid, she thought everything had already been discovered but that’s not true. “The world, the Universe is still there for the taking,” she added.When asked what she plans to do after retirement, Williams said she doesn’t have any definitive plans and that’s why she had an opportunity to come to India.

When asked to respond on a mission that was supposed to 8-10 days long but stretched for 9-long months (286 days), the time she spent at the International Space Station, Williams said that she's an astronaut and loves being in space.Speaking further on her extended space expedition, Suni Williams said, "The time up there is very precious to me and I knew that I probably wouldn’t have an opportunity to do that again. Every day is different and every day is fun. So on a global basis that was sort of like my thought process but only a daily basis, everyday is different"."The schedule was like - what I'm doing today, sometimes it used to be mundane but that's okay because then you get chance to talk to your friends and family. But sometimes it would be like groundbreaking science like wow, this is amazing, it's just something different, every single day for me is really exciting."When asked to give one message for the young astronauts out there, Williams said, "Limit is your imagination, there is amazing potential. When I was a kid, I thought everything has been discovered but obviously that's not the truth."She thanked all the people who prayed for her and wished them good luck when they were up in space.ALSO READ | How Sunita Williams Turned a Short Flight Into a Historic 286-Day Mission

Sunita Williams Retires From NASA After 27 Years

Williams retired after capping a stellar 27-year career during which she completed three missions aboard the International Space Station and set various human spaceflight records.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjlkpxEDDJ0

Sunita 'Suni' Williams was born to a Gujarati father, Deepak Pandya, hailing from Jhulasan in Mehsana district and a Slovenian mother, Ursuline Bonnie Pandya, on September 19, 1965, in Euclid, Ohio, in the US.

How Many Days Sunita Williams Spent in Space During 27-year-long Career

Williams logged 608 days in space -- second on the list of cumulative time in space by a NASA astronaut. She ranks sixth on the list of longest single spaceflight by an American, tied with NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, both logging 286 days during NASA’s Boeing Starliner and SpaceX Crew-9 missions, it said.ALSO READ | 608 Days In Space, 9 Spacewalks: Sunita Williams Retires, Capping A Historic NASA CareerWilliams also completed nine spacewalks, totalling 62 hours and 6 minutes, ranking as the most spacewalk time by a woman and fourth-most on the all-time cumulative spacewalk duration list. She was the first person to run a marathon in space, NASA said.With inputs from PTI