00:00Hi, welcome to Inadu ETV Bharat. We have a really special guest with us, astronaut Sunita Williams.
00:06She's here for the Kerala Literary Festival. It's Asia's largest literary festival and you're also doing a session with children. Tell us about it.
00:15Yeah, I'm really excited. So part of the opening remarks this morning and, or I'm sorry, part of the opening remarks this evening as well as, you know, a little preview of what's to come.
00:26But tomorrow is all students. So I'm excited. So there'll be a group of younger students and then a group of older students.
00:33So we can, you know, have some time for Q&A with the kids and just really get into what's exciting about space exploration right now.
00:41So you're kind of passing the baton on with your mentees and with these things you're doing with children over here and in the U.S.
00:48Yeah, absolutely. You know, it's obviously I think my retirement was out there in the news a little bit.
00:53And I retired at the end of the year, actually, and just happy to do that because I know that space agencies are in, you know, good hands right now.
01:01The younger generation has trained that we have them flying to space, getting leadership roles.
01:07And I'm just excited for them to be the ones to teach the kids who are in school about STEM, about space exploration and bring them along.
01:16So I feel really good about it. And that's, that's our, you know, the biggest compliment is actually when someone can take your job and do it better.
01:23And what's your relationship with books? Did you grow up reading books? Did you read science fiction a lot?
01:28Did that get you into space?
01:29I read books, not science fiction. I'm not a huge science fiction fan.
01:32Okay. I really, you know, of course, when I was a kid, I liked books about animals.
01:36I like little mystery stories and stuff. I like now historical fiction is interesting to me because it gives you another aspect of history or even just history,
01:47but more about like the people and what they were doing at a specific time.
01:52I think that's really intriguing to me. What makes a person?
01:55Which book are you reading right now?
01:57What am I reading? I got a book when I was in Slovenia. It's called Slovenology, which is really interesting.
02:03It's just about like little funny things about Slovenia.
02:06If you're touring and if you're looking around, but it's about a gentleman who actually married a lady who is, he's not Slovenian, married a lady who is Slovenian.
02:14So how he's breaking into that culture, which is, it was fascinating.
02:18Oh, it's fiction.
02:19It's not fiction. It's nonfiction.
02:21It's nonfiction.
02:21Yeah.
02:22It's based on a true story.
02:22Yeah.
02:23Yeah.
02:23And then I also was given a present in the last couple of months from a friend of mine.
02:30It's Sadhguru's book.
02:31So I've been reading that, but I like to like those types of books.
02:34I like to like read a little bit of it and then just think about it for a little while.
02:37So I'm not rushing through that.
02:39I think I'll miss the point if I rush through.
02:41Speaking of Sadhguru, you also, you also believe in mindfulness.
02:44You practice mindfulness up in space also.
02:47And you also have talked about doing yoga.
02:50Did that keep you centered in those difficult, those nine months?
02:53Absolutely.
02:53I mean, I think you sort of, I think we're very lucky in space also because we get the view out the window.
02:58I mean, how centered can you be when you look at our whole planet with everybody you know, every person, every plant, every animal that's right there in front of you on that planet.
03:07So of course it keeps you centered because you obviously start to think about your place and what is really the, you know, the higher meaning.
03:13My father and I had some conversations like this at times.
03:16Sometimes, somehow here on Earth, we get a little bit distracted by all the things that are going on, not to mention your, you know, your phone and the connectivity.
03:24And so it's, I think being in space was really a luxury where you really had the opportunity to focus.
03:30And having that view out the window really made that enjoyable.
03:34You actually feel like that pale blue dot that Carl Seng talked about.
03:38Oh, absolutely.
03:39Absolutely.
03:39I mean, when you're looking back at the planet, not only is it, you know, like our home, but it's also alive.
03:46You see the interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean, you know, things that are happening, algae blooms like I've talked about before and ice formations.
03:55You know, things are happening as the seasons are going by, hurricanes, you see them forming in the ocean or over the ocean going across.
04:03So you know that there's a lot of activity going on.
04:06And so our planet is alive and that's what keeps us alive.
04:10And it makes you really stop and think.
04:12And you've also, going through something like this, spending nine months in space, it also calls for a little bit of a sense of humor to not get too serious about things and to not lose hope.
04:27How did you maintain your curiosity and your sense of humor in those times?
04:32I mean, there is so much to learn.
04:34And every day what we do in the space station is different.
04:38So your curiosity is already obviously peaked because, you know, the schedule, it keeps you going and wondering what's going to happen next.
04:47So I love learning.
04:49I love that we have the opportunity to talk to the investigators for the different type of experiments.
04:55And so in the middle of a while, you're their lab tech and you're doing something.
04:57I was like, what are we doing exactly?
04:59And, you know, they're in your ear because we have a headset on connected to them wherever they are.
05:03And they're telling you what amazing science that they're doing.
05:06And it's like, wow, I never thought of this.
05:08How did you guys think of this?
05:09I'm just the guy who's doing this stuff.
05:11But they're imagining all this kind of experiments and processes that we're doing up in space.
05:17And it's fascinating to me.
05:19You know, speaking about your past equations, Kalpana Chala was a friend also.
05:25And you spent a lot of time together.
05:27You went on hikes.
05:28And tell us a little bit about that friendship.
05:30Yeah, yeah.
05:31She was obviously, you know, somebody as soon as I got to the astronaut office, she'd been there for a couple of years.
05:36And so I like sort of seeked her out.
05:38It was like, hi, how's it going?
05:39You know, hello, Indian.
05:40And we became fast friends.
05:43And so she knew that I like to hike.
05:45I like to, you know, ride bicycles.
05:48So we used to do that quite a bit.
05:50She had a nice way of sort of slowing me down a little bit.
05:53You know, my family is very energetic and wants to get it done.
05:56And she'd be like, let's pull over over here.
05:59And she'd enlighten me to, you know, a new species of birds or something that I hadn't ever learned about or a new plant or something.
06:06And so she was always one to provide a source of, answer a source of curiosity that I had.
06:12So what a great, great person.
06:13And you still have a good equation with her family as well.
06:16You're still in touch with them.
06:18Not as much as I would like to.
06:20You know, obviously, because I haven't been here in a number of years into India.
06:24But they were in the United States.
06:25I spent a lot of time with them there.
06:28And then every single time that I've been here, I've tried to at least have a dialogue and see them.
06:32And I was very lucky this time to see her mom and her two sisters, at least just for a brief moment in Delhi.
06:38And we hope you keep visiting India.
06:40And we wish you a great stay at KLF and a great session as well.
06:45Absolutely.
06:45I'm excited to talk to the kids.
06:46And keep inspiring all of us.
Comments