NASA astronaut Sunita Williams has announced her plans to visit India soon and meet with ISRO’s team during her trip.
During NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Post-Flight News Conference, Williams shared her admiration for India, describing how the view of the Himalayas from space left her in awe during her nine-month mission aboard the International Space Station.
“I hope and I think for sure I’m going to be going back to my father’s home country and visiting with people, getting excited about the Indian astronaut who’s going up on the ISRO mission coming up,” she said.
Williams’ father, Deepak Pandya, hails from Gujarat, while her mother, Ursuline Bonnie Pandya (née Zalokar), is of Slovenian-American descent.
Expressing her enthusiasm for India’s advancements in space exploration, Williams stated that she would love to share her experiences with ISRO. She praised India for stepping forward in the space sector as a fellow democracy.
“It’s pretty awesome—they’ll have a hometown hero of their own who will be able to talk about how wonderful the International Space Station is from his perspective,” she said.
She also expressed her desire to collaborate with India in the future. “I hope I can meet up at some point and share our experiences with as many people in India as possible because it’s a great country, another wonderful democracy putting its foot forward in space exploration. I would love to be part of that and help them along,” she added.
When asked if she planned to take her crew along for the trip, Williams responded affirmatively and joked about preparing them with spicy food. “Absolutely! You might stick out a little bit, but that’s okay—we’ll get you all primed with some spicy food, and we’ll be good,” she quipped.
Williams described India’s diverse geography and culture, highlighting how the landmass formed through the collision of tectonic plates, giving rise to the Himalayas. “India is amazing. Every time we went over the Himalayas, we captured some incredible pictures. It’s just amazing—like a ripple effect from when the plates collided. As it flows down into India, you see so many colors,” she said.
She also noted how India’s diverse landscapes and cultures were evident from space. “When you come from the East and go into Gujarat and Mumbai, the fishing fleet off the coast gives you a little bit of a beacon that says, ‘Here we come!’ All throughout India, you see this diversity,” she observed.
At night, Williams said, India looked like a vast network of lights, with major cities shining the brightest and fading into smaller towns. “It was just incredible to look at—both at night and during the day. The Himalayas serve as a stunning backdrop leading down into India,” she described.
Williams, along with NASA Crew-9 astronauts Nick Hague, Butch Wilmore, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, returned to Earth on March 19 after a successful SpaceX Dragon capsule splashdown. The team had spent over nine months in space, significantly longer than their originally planned mission due to delays caused by Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft issues, as reported by CNN.
During her extended mission, ISRO had expressed its interest in collaborating with Williams for future space endeavors. “When Bharat, under the leadership of Hon’ble PM Modi ji, is working towards making India a developed country, we wish to utilize your expertise in space exploration,” ISRO stated.
