Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams set to embark on third space mission

Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams will fly into space for the third time on Tuesday as the pilot aboard a brand-new spacecraft, Boeing Starliner, in its first crewed test flight.

The liftoff is scheduled to take place from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 10.34 local time on Monday (8.04 am IST on Tuesday).

Sunita Williams, who loves to eat samosas in space, said she is a bit nervous but has no jitters about flying in a new spacecraft. 

While training at the launch pad, Williams said, “When I reach the International Space Station, it will be like going back home.”

"We are all here because we are all ready. Our friends and family have heard about it and we've talked about it and they are happy and proud that we are part of the process to fix it all," the BBC quoted Williams as saying

The mission has been delayed for several years because of setbacks in the spacecraft's development.
If it is successful, it will become the second private firm able to provide crew transport to and from the ISS, alongside Elon Musk's SpaceX.

A qualified navy test pilot, 59-year-old Sunita has flown twice to space in 2006 and 2012, and according to data from NASA, “Sunita has spent a cumulative total of 322 days in space.”

Sunita will create history by being the first woman to fly on a maiden mission of a new human-rated spacecraft. 

She has held the record for maximum spacewalk time of 50 hour and 40 minutes by a female astronaut   across seven spacewalks. Her record was broken by Peggy Whitson with 10 spacewalks.

Williams was born in Euclid, Ohio, to Indian-American neuroanatomist Deepak Pandya and Slovene-American Ursuline Bonnie (Zalokar) Pandya.

She holds a physical science degree from the US Naval Academy and a Master of Science in Engineering Management from Florida Institute of Technology.