Indian−American astronaut Sunita Williams
has returned to earth after 127 days in space with a new record under
her belt − the most spacewalking time by a female at 50 hours and 40
minutes over seven career excursions.
Williams, who was commander of
Expedition 33 on the International Space Station returned home with two
space−going colleagues aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule that landed at 8:56 p.m. Sunday night northeast of Arkalyk in the steppes of Kazakhstan, according to US space agency NASA.
Williams has logged 322 days
during two space flights making her second on the list of most
experienced US female astronauts. She also holds the record of longest
spaceflight (195 days) for female space travellers.
Daughter of an Indian−American father from Gujarat and a Slovenian mother, Williams is the second woman of Indian origin to have been selected by NASA for a space mission after Kalpana Chawla and the second astronaut of Slovenian heritage after Ronald M. Sega.
Williams, Aki Hoshide of the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency
and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko spent 125 of their 127 days in
space circling Earth onboard the ISS. The trio blasted off from the
Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 15.
While on the outpost, they
welcomed SpaceX's Dragon capsule making its first official cargo
delivery, which included fresh apples and chocolate−vanilla swirl ice
cream.
Williams and Hoshide also carried out two spacewalks.
Kevin Ford, the new ISS commander
and his crewmates−Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny
Tarelkin−will run the outpost as they await the arrival of three more
crew members, including American Tom Marshburn, in December
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