New Delhi:
Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams, who will lift a spacecraft from Earth for the third time tomorrow, will carry the Bhagwad Gita into space.
Speaking to DailyExpertNews, Ms Williams said she is more spiritual than religious. When she takes off from the Kennedy Space Center tomorrow just after 8 am India time in a brand new spacecraft – Boeing Starliner, she will take with her her 'lucky charm' – an idol of Lord Ganesh.
She said that she would carry a statue of Lord Ganesh with her on the crew's commercial flight as “Ganesh is her good luck charm” and that she was happy to have Lord Ganesh with her in space. During her previous space travels, she carried the Bhagavad Gita with her.
Among her other passions, Ms. Williams is a marathoner and completed a marathon while on the International Space Station.
Is she nervous about her third flight? She said that while she is a little apprehensive, she has no nerves about flying in a new spacecraft. “When I reach the International Space Station, it will be like returning home,” she said.
In space, she broke a few records – a major one was when she held the record for the maximum spacewalk time by a female astronaut. She completed seven spacewalks, lasting a total of 50 hours and 40 minutes.
She is currently training to fly the Crew Flight Test mission aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft – the vehicle's first crewed flight. Sunita Williams was selected as an astronaut in 1998 and was chosen to be part of the select group of astronauts who would fly in NASA's commercial crew program after the Space Shuttle was retired in 2015.