Why in news ?
Sunita Williams is on her third historic flight to space. She became the first woman to pilot a spacecraft on its maiden test flight to space adding more hours to her already spent 322 days in space.
About Sunitha :
Sunita Lyn Williams (née Pandya; born September 19, 1965), nicknamed Suni in the United States and Sončka in Slovenia,[1] is an American astronaut, United States Navy officer, and former record holder for most spacewalks by a woman (seven) and most spacewalk time for a woman (50 hours, 40 minutes).
1st space journey :
Williams launched with the crew of STS-116 on December 9, 2006, docking with the International Space Station on December 11, 2006. As a member of the Expedition 14 crew, Williams served as Flight Engineer. While onboard, she established a world record for females with four spacewalks totaling 29 hours and 17 minutes.
2nd space journey :
Williams was assigned to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14 and Expedition 15. In 2012, she served as a flight engineer on Expedition 32 and then commander of Expedition 33. In 2024 she returned to the ISS on the Boeing Crewed Flight Test, the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner.
3rd space journey/today’s news :
Indian-origin Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore on Friday morning entered the International Space Station, the US space agency said on Friday.
NASA’s Boeing Starliner carrying the two astronauts had docked with the ISS at 1:34 pm (EDT) after lifting off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Wednesday.
The 59-year-old Indian origin astronaut broke into a gig after entering through the hatch into the ISS and hugged the astronauts onboard the space station.