- 4 days ago
Speaking on India Today podcast UnPolitics, Nasa astronaut Sunita Williams reflects on her 27-year career and recent retirement announcement during a broadcast from a literature festival in India. Williams addressed media speculation regarding her health during her extended stay on the International Space Station, clarifying that she returned in good health despite the physical challenges of zero gravity.
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00:00It is a true honor and a rare privilege to be in conversation with someone who by the virtue of her life, by the virtue of her work has redefined what it truly means to aim high.
00:25A trailblazer, a legend whose legacy might have been etched in space, but it has been felt right here, where she's inspired millions of young lives to think that even sky is not the limit.
00:37Like I said, it is an honor to be in conversation with Captain Sunita Williams, who retires after 27 years in service to NASA, where today we celebrate her work, her life, her legacy.
00:55The announcement of your retirement is coming when you're in India.
01:10You know, are you done with space exploration?
01:13The next chapter for me is more about family.
01:15An eight-day mission turned into a nine-and-a-half-month mission.
01:19When you were docking and the five thrusters gave up, was there a sense that, Houston, we have a problem?
01:25It's overwhelming.
01:25The enormity of the problem, it gets you a little bit scared.
01:29Speaking about the hair, you had quite a few good hair days.
01:32Yes, I did.
01:33In space, didn't you?
01:34Something which the President of the United States also noticed.
01:37The lady with the crazy hair, I think, something like that.
01:39Yeah, the lady with the crazy hair, we are bringing you back.
01:41We have Gagan Yan happening.
01:43How are you looking at India's space journey?
01:45This is the time.
01:46This is a golden age of space exploration for everybody around the planet.
01:50Have you watched Interstellar?
01:52I've watched part of it.
01:53It's a long movie.
01:55Yes.
02:00I know you're exhausted.
02:01I know you're back-to-back with interviews.
02:03And I know I interviewed you yesterday.
02:06I asked you a tonne load of questions.
02:08But thank you so much, Captain Sunita Williams, for sitting here and doing this again with us.
02:12It's absolutely my pleasure.
02:14Particularly, it was on the heels of talking to all the kids at the festival.
02:18It was really nice.
02:19No, it's a rare privilege.
02:21And, you know, with all puns intended, I'm literally over the moon to be doing this with you again.
02:27And I just would, you know, want to begin with the fact of you retiring 27 years.
02:33And, you know, before all of this, I want to ask you, how would you introduce yourself to our listeners, to our audiences?
02:42You know, Captain Sunita Williams had to introduce us, because you're used to very rich introductions wherever you go.
02:48Yeah, yeah.
02:48And, you know, I can, and yesterday I read out a full sheet of that.
02:52So I'd like you, if you can introduce yourself to our listeners and viewers, what would you say?
02:57Oh, wow.
02:58I would say, hi, my name is, what my mother used to call me, Sunny Williams.
03:02I'm a former Navy helicopter pilot, and I just retired from NASA as a NASA astronaut.
03:10Is that it?
03:12Yeah, I think that's where I would go.
03:14That's where you'd go?
03:15I just want to take you.
03:15I think other things I would probably say is, I used to be a competitive swimmer, and I love animals.
03:21Those are some of the key characteristics about me.
03:24I just would want to add that the kind of records that you've made, 27 years in service with the NASA.
03:29And I want to read this out, because three missions to the International Space Station, 608 days in space, nine space walks, over 62 hours in open space, the most by any woman in history, and also running a marathon, which is the Boston Marathon in space.
03:45And there's so much more.
03:46When you close this chapter, and as you retire today, as you hang up your astronaut suit, Captain Williams, I want you to take a minute to possibly reflect on what this journey really was.
03:59Also, is there surrender pity in it, that the announcement of your retirement is coming when you're in India, because your origin, Indian origin, and most of us back home feel that we have a bit of stakeholder in your life.
04:16and career, and how it's panned out.
04:19Wow.
04:20You know, I'm excited about retirement, for one thing, because I feel like it was a good time to leave.
04:26The chapter that I lived in for NASA, it was building and working on the International Space Station.
04:33And we're coming to the next chapter for NASA, and the next chapter is going back to the moon.
04:39All the work that we've done on the International Space Station, I think, is helping us inform our decisions as we make new spacecraft.
04:45Think about sustainably living on the moon, and how we're going to maybe build a place where people could be there on the moon for a long period of time.
04:52All of the data that we have gathered over the last, for the space station, 25 plus years, and that includes all the buildings, that's my whole career,
05:03will help inform that next generation of explorers and exploration.
05:07I feel like the people who are participating in the space agencies and the space program, one generation younger than me,
05:16they have the steering wheel, and they're ready to go and make history.
05:21I think also we're at a point where we're really inspiring the next, next generation who is out there at the festival today.
05:29All the kids, and they're getting excited because this is now a thing that they see on the news pretty regularly.
05:36People from all over the world who have gone to the International Space Station so people can identify with other people.
05:41Me, of course, as half Indian, so people in India identify with me, but Captain Chukla, who just came back on an Axiom 4 mission,
05:50of course they can identify with him.
05:52This is really a great time for people all over the world to take a look at space exploration,
05:58how they can be involved, and how it makes us work together as humans and humanity.
06:04Captain Williams, are you done? Are you done with space exploration?
06:10That when you retire, you're okay, that that chapter is over?
06:15I'm okay with that.
06:16I think, obviously, there's going to be opportunities like this where I can talk to try to inspire the next generation.
06:24Obviously, there'll be some opportunities where maybe somebody would ask for my opinion about how some program
06:29or some spacecraft or something we did in the past, and hopefully most of that is already documented,
06:38and so we have a path for that information flow, but I'm always available to help out.
06:43But the next chapter for me is more about family and spending more time with my family on my timeline,
06:50and I think that's really important.
06:52And at some point in time, you've got to do that.
06:53You know, at the back of what has been a remarkable career, Captain Williams,
06:58and a trailblazer or legend where your legacy was etched in space, but the impact of it is felt right here.
07:05You've been speaking to a lot of kids, and I'm sure you understand, you know, what you've really given them,
07:10and that is to think that even sky is not the limit.
07:13How important is it for you to inspire these young kids today?
07:16Yeah, I mean, that's the whole reason we do what we do.
07:18When you see the next group of people taking over and doing what you're doing even better,
07:23or just even relating to, you know, like maybe some five- or six-year-old
07:27and putting, you know, myself in their shoes and having that discussion with them
07:31so they could see themselves in the things that I have accomplished.
07:35You know, those accomplishments are not totally extraordinary.
07:38They can be obtainable by anybody who puts their head down and just sort of drives for a goal,
07:44and I want kids to recognize that and realize that, that I am not something that's like magical.
07:49I'm just one of them, and that's, I think, the main goal of having these conversations with kids,
07:54and also the technical work that hopefully we've laid the groundwork for,
07:59like I was mentioning, the next steps in exploration.
08:02You know, for us back home, you are a bit magical, and a lot of us,
08:08I remember at the India Today newsroom, which I was telling you earlier as well,
08:12we held a watch party, you know, when your capsule SpaceX dragon was splashing down.
08:18It must have been about 4.30 or 5 in the morning in us, you know, newsroom,
08:22and everybody actually gave each other a high five and heaped a sigh of relief,
08:26and, you know, the dolphins swirled around it.
08:28That image was magical.
08:30And the question, you know, that I want to ask you at the back of that is,
08:35do you understand what you really mean to people in India when they look up to you
08:40and, you know, they followed your career?
08:43And it's, they feel that they own a part of Sunika Williams.
08:50It's very humbling, and I'm very honored to have people tell me this.
08:55It's sort of hard to actually put your arms around and understand that, honestly,
08:59because I know that, you know, I know how I live my life, you know,
09:02just try to do the right thing.
09:03And, you know, like, I feel like I, again, I don't have any extraordinary skill.
09:08I just sort of put my head down.
09:09So it seems, for me, it's a little bit hard to really put my arms around that.
09:13But at the same time, I take that responsibility on.
09:16Like, I know that some kids see me as a role model, and I need to be serious about that.
09:23As a role model, you know, you need to live your life in that manner and share your experience.
09:28I think that's really important as well.
09:29Share that experience, and so other folks can be part of it,
09:33and it's not just like some, you know, idol that other folks can't be part of.
09:38So I want to interact with people.
09:40That makes, that forces me even more to want to do that.
09:43You know, I know you've answered this a million times over in multiple press conferences,
09:48but allow me, you know, just, and I'm sorry, but humor me for two minutes,
09:52and I want to take you back to a journey which was,
09:54because you've done three space missions.
09:56There is one that has gotten an enormous amount of attention,
10:01and that is when an eight-day mission turned into a nine-and-a-half-month mission.
10:07You were on a spacecraft, the Boeing Starliner, for the first time,
10:12and you knew there were going to be issues with it.
10:15But when you were docking and the five thrusters gave up,
10:17was there a sense that, Houston, we have a problem?
10:21Oh, absolutely.
10:21You know, I mean, you know, this is something we had not planned for,
10:25or something that's not in our book.
10:27You don't read about five thrusters failing.
10:29You just deal with it, right?
10:31So there was a lot of conversations with the folks on the ground,
10:35because obviously they have a little bit more data than the spacecraft can handle.
10:39So they have a little bit more data.
10:40So they were a little bit more informed than we were.
10:43They were running through there.
10:44Then there's more people down there, too, who are experts on this particular system,
10:48the engineers, the technicians who put it all together.
10:51So they're all putting their heads together at that period of time to figure out what the next plan of action was.
10:58And, you know, so there's a moment in time you're like,
11:00OK, I hope we can still have a communication with the ground,
11:02because we know that we trust and know those people down there are going to come up with some game plan.
11:08In the meantime, though, you know, we might lose communication.
11:10That's always a threat.
11:12And it's called No Radio Nordo.
11:14And so we have Nordo procedures to be predictable.
11:17So the ground knows where we are and what we're doing.
11:19And, you know, Butch and I look at each other.
11:21We're like, OK, here we go.
11:22You know, the thing that we wanted to do was attempt to dock to the space station.
11:27And while we're doing that, look at the controllability of the spacecraft.
11:30And, you know, I was talking about this yesterday.
11:33It's a big problem.
11:34But how do you solve big problems?
11:36One little bite at a time.
11:37So our, you know, our first thought, our action is it would be best to dock to the space station,
11:42hoping the spacecraft is controllable.
11:45Let's give that a shot.
11:46If that doesn't work, we'll get to a safe place away from the space station and we'll tackle the next problem.
11:53So it's step by step by step.
11:56And another example for a lot of people who watch movies is The Martian.
12:00If you watch The Martian movie, that gentleman was challenged with huge, huge technical issues.
12:07And it's overwhelming.
12:08And obviously, when there's time and you can sit back and realize the enormity of the problem,
12:14it gets you a little bit scared.
12:15But the way to tackle it is like one little piece at a time.
12:19Let's just handle this right now.
12:20Let's see how this is going to go.
12:22You don't really have time when you're handling that one little piece to get scared
12:26because you're focusing on that technical capability.
12:28So when you talk about films and you and have you watched Interstellar?
12:33I've watched part of it.
12:34It's a long movie.
12:35Yes.
12:36So I haven't watched the whole thing.
12:37So I do need to go back and watch it because it's been recommended a number of times to me.
12:41With whatever little bit you watch, do you see any similarities at all?
12:45Yes, yes, yes.
12:46There's problems and you handle them piece by piece by piece.
12:50And there's a human aspect of that also, right?
12:52So I think we want to maintain our relationships with people and you don't want to explode or get aggravated and stuff
13:02because that doesn't really help solve the problem.
13:05Was there a sense, and I'm not going to ask you more about this, that when you looked across to your colleague, Butch Wilmore,
13:12was it true that you guys could have just drifted away if those thrusters didn't come back?
13:18There's a, you know, there was a, if we had got to that point, there's a possibility that the thrusters wouldn't work as advertised.
13:28We have them in different orientations.
13:31And the thought that, you know, Butch and I had talked about this afterwards,
13:35what was going through his mind is how do we turn the spacecraft and use the thrusters that we have to do what we need to do?
13:40So it's not an absolute that, yes, this would have been, it would have been, you know, the end or terrible or anything like that.
13:47We would have worked on trying to figure out how to fly the spacecraft.
13:50We were really lucky because we had, to call it lucky, we had a number of years to understand the systems
13:57and work with the spacecraft beforehand and try out different things.
14:01And so flying the aircraft and a spacecraft in a different attitude and using, for example,
14:06the pitch thrusters to be yaw thrusters is something that is not out of our wheelhouse.
14:13We've learned about these things with past spacecraft.
14:17We could put this into action.
14:19So we would have definitely given it all a fighting chance if we had lost thrusters and were not able to get them back.
14:26Captain Williams, you know, with the images that we watched of you from space,
14:29the kind of resilience, the kind of, you know, rolling your sleeves up, getting the job done, you seemed happy.
14:37The sheer fact that an eight-day mission had turned into a nine-and-a-half-month mission didn't quite reflect.
14:42You were running a marathon in space.
14:45You know, you were making records.
14:46You were gung-ho that let's do this.
14:48There had to be moments of vulnerability where, you know, it's normal to miss family,
14:54but also that you were in space.
14:57And, you know, you might have had a way of coming back.
14:59But was there a time which you remember that maybe you were not as upbeat as all those videos?
15:06Oh, you know, I mean, we're a family up there.
15:08So, obviously, you know, there's times where things don't go right or, you know, another crew member has some issue or I have an issue, like, with whatever, with a science experiment, with, you know, a bad conversation with somebody at home or a bad conversation on the space station.
15:24But, you know, you work through those things.
15:26And that's how, that's what a family does, right?
15:28Family doesn't break apart and have big issues or get super nervous about something.
15:35Everybody comes together and helps each other out.
15:38So, you know, for me, I, you know, of course I missed home.
15:41I really miss my mom, as a matter of fact.
15:44I lost my dad in 2020.
15:45And so my mother is older.
15:46She's in her 80s.
15:47And I, you know, the big thing that was on my mind, it's just some lost time with an elderly parent.
15:53And that's really precious time.
15:55So that was the thing that was going through my head the most.
15:59Secondly, my niece and nephew, you know, they're growing up.
16:01They're getting big.
16:02And I really wanted to spend time with them.
16:04And, you know, on that same vein, my dogs are getting older.
16:07And it's a time that, you know, they're awesome and I would love to hang out and play with them.
16:11And, of course, you know, like my husband and my sister are always like steadfast individuals.
16:18I miss time with them as well.
16:20And it was unfortunate that, you know, I miss that time.
16:23But I think I've mentioned before, it was pretty cool.
16:26They were all super supportive.
16:27Everybody, you know, as much as they could be.
16:30They're like, just go and have fun.
16:31And that support allows you to press on, which is really cool.
16:36I think it's not only in this business, but other businesses, particularly when people deploy.
16:41Or have to go away for business trips.
16:44Or whatever the case may be.
16:46If your family is behind you, you can do such amazing things.
16:50You know, that strength, this comes right back to.
16:52You know, I love that video when you came in and it was homecoming.
16:55And your two dogs, your car, that was so cute.
16:58Is that the reason why you had those paw print tattoos on your arm?
17:02Well, it was funny.
17:03Like you mentioned in the beginning, how would I describe myself?
17:05That's sort of why I would say an animal lover.
17:07Or like that definitely came from, you know, my mother's side of my family a little bit more.
17:11But my father really liked our pets as well later in life.
17:16And so, I don't know.
17:17I've always loved watching animals.
17:20I think they're really genuine.
17:22They're really pure.
17:24They don't have all the distractions, the mess that us humans do.
17:29And, you know, the pain that we go through by just listening to our own heads, you know, like you were talking about.
17:36And I think I value watching them.
17:39I value taking lessons learned from them.
17:41And, you know, that pure joy is something that we have inside of us, too.
17:46We just sort of suppress it a little bit.
17:48The paw print tattoos that you have, are they your dolls?
17:51This was a Jack Russell Terrier that I had in, I got him in 2001.
17:55And I had him until 2017.
17:57So, he was my old boy.
17:59But, you know, went through a lot with me as I was training and getting ready to go to space.
18:04He traveled with me to Russia when I was training for my second space flight.
18:08So, he was my little buddy.
18:10Yeah.
18:10And, you know, the paw prints just always remind me.
18:13You know, like when I'm running.
18:15Yeah, when I'm running, when I'm bicycling, those are his actual feet prints.
18:18And, you know, when I'm swimming, I can see them.
18:21And it just reminds me of the good things, really good things in life.
18:24You know, when you went up in space and there was so much, like I said, there were, you know,
18:29there was so much conversation, so much chatter.
18:32There were havans being performed in India that Sunita needs to come back home safely.
18:37Astrological calculations that this is the day.
18:39This is not the day when she should come back.
18:41You also took a bit of India with you up in space.
18:44You know, you took samosas and you took a little idol of Lord Ganesha.
18:50And I know you've answered this before.
18:51And you took the Bhagavad Gita.
18:53I want to ask you a larger question on this because your colleague, you know, Butch Wilmore as well,
18:59constantly said that he used to attend church from space every Sunday.
19:03And when you talk about scientists and astronauts, it's difficult to believe that somebody with a scientific temperament could also be religious.
19:09Are you religious, Sunita?
19:11I don't know if I would say religious. I think my father would suggest it also spiritual is a little bit more appropriate.
19:17It was really awesome for me and my brother and sister to grow up in a family that was diverse in that regard.
19:24You know, my father was Hindu.
19:25My mother is Catholic.
19:27And we grew up going to church and also learning about, you know, Hindu stories when we were young, in particular, like in the comic form when we were younger.
19:37But then, you know, having really nice spiritual discussions with my father and going to a satsang with him and things like that.
19:44So I wouldn't necessarily say one religion is the way I go.
19:48I think spirituality and thinking about, you know, a little bit of an existential person and where your place is in the universe gets, I think, even a little more emphasized when you're in space.
20:02And Butch said it really eloquently when he was up there.
20:05When you, you know, when you look out through the window and see the earth in that manner, it changes your perspective, of course, about the planet, about the people and how we should all live together.
20:15It also makes you wonder, like, wow, this is an amazing place.
20:18People talk about aliens and you talk about the billions of stars that are out there and the combination of the chemistry that allows us to live on this planet.
20:28It's pretty much of a miracle.
20:30I mean, and we don't think of it that way, but it is.
20:34And every one of us on this planet is a miracle.
20:36Captain Williams, you know, it's a personal question and you can choose not to answer it.
20:40But the last time you were here, there was a lot of conversation about you wanting to adopt an Indian girl.
20:45You know, your sister had spoken about it and it seemed that there was interest.
20:51Why didn't you go through with it?
20:52Or was it something that you battled with in your head?
20:55Because the press seemed to suggest that you wanted to adopt a young girl from India.
20:59Well, my sister did adopt two children from India.
21:02Oh, lovely.
21:02Yeah.
21:03So, you know, we all had talked about it at different times.
21:07My life was a little bit complicated.
21:09Both my husband and I were professionals that moved around quite a bit.
21:12And I would say, unfortunately, we didn't have children.
21:15And I think my biggest goal in life is try to be a positive impact on kids.
21:19Probably one of the reasons I love coming and talking to kids.
21:24And, you know, for me, it really wasn't a feasible idea just because my schedule was so crazy.
21:30And I really value, I value my parents.
21:34My husband really valued his parents as well.
21:37And I think two parents in the household with children is a really good idea just to provide a really awesome role models.
21:44I mean, those are my role models.
21:45I talked about it today at the festival.
21:47And so we didn't find it a feasible idea.
21:51My sister is really amazing and brave and took it on head on.
21:56And so our family has gained so much from my niece and nephew who have come from Orissa and that area.
22:04And it's just wonderful to have them as part of the family.
22:07So any kid you can make a positive impact on, I think, is...
22:10Thank you for taking that question because it's a personal question.
22:13I don't know if I should have asked you, but I want to...
22:16You're somebody who speaks all the time in all your interviews.
22:20You have spoken about teen, about, you know, coming in together, making things happen.
22:25And something which a lot of us teared up on in India was the hug that you gave two days ago to Kalpana Chawala's mother.
22:34And after that, she spoke to the press.
22:37And she says, in Hindi, in Chesa Punjabi also, she says,
22:41That when Kalpana Chawala died in that tragic crash, you know, on board in 2003,
22:52that you went and stayed with her family for three months.
22:55And she spoke about Sunita used to come at nine in the morning and leave at ten at night.
23:00She's like my daughter.
23:01Is it stunning up for a friend, being a team player?
23:05What was it?
23:06Oh, that's what a compliment.
23:07And she's amazing.
23:09So their whole family is amazing.
23:11And in a very, very, of course, unexpected and tough time, right?
23:16So just how to try and help people make sense out of the whole situation.
23:22You know, of course, she hadn't lived in India for quite some time.
23:24And I was lucky enough to be Kalpana's friend.
23:27And so just to share stories about her in the United States and hear stories about her and her lifetime in India.
23:34You know, we just spent a lot of time together.
23:36And I think it was a little cathartic to just reminisce and talk about her and just relive her life.
23:44Because it was absolutely a life worth living.
23:48And what she was represented and what she wanted in space is something that we in our office absolutely felt like we had to continue, along with the rest of the Columbia crew.
23:58We weren't going to say, like, OK, we're done.
24:00We're not flying anymore.
24:01We're going to explore in their honor.
24:03That's why they were flying in space.
24:06All of them were explorers.
24:07And we just wanted to continue that.
24:09So sharing that ideas, because that is a little bit different than a mother and a daughter having a conversation, but sharing, you know, her perspectives and how the astronaut office wanted to continue their legacy, I think was really important.
24:22So I wanted to spend the time with them to make sure they understood that.
24:26And for me, it was good just to get to know them.
24:28They're just an amazing family.
24:29And I'm still in touch with a lot of them.
24:31So it's really great.
24:32And they have the fondest thing to say, both her sister and her mother about you.
24:36You know, you've brushed or shied a lot of, there was a lot of press at that point of time that Butch and Sunny are stranded in space.
24:45Will they come back?
24:46But there was politics, there was press around it.
24:49But there was a larger concern where health implications are concerned.
24:53There's an emotional part of it, but there is the physical part of it.
24:58Zero gravity.
24:59There's bone density loss.
25:00You spoke about muscle loss.
25:02You guys were training for it.
25:03But to stay for nine and a half months, I want to ask you, Captain William, today, is there any ramification on your health of staying in space for nine and a half months?
25:13I mean, long-term effects, I don't know yet.
25:15You know, that we do do a long-term study.
25:18And so I will go back to Johnson Space Center every year for my birthday and get a myriad of tests done.
25:25One, just for our own health and just so we have qualifications for flying or whatever that it is, but it's also for the scientists there to collect data.
25:34So we know because we haven't been flying astronauts in space actually that long.
25:38When you look, and the number of them are, it's not that huge when you look at scientific numbers of data points.
25:44And so they continually want to do that.
25:47On the short term, though, I came back fine.
25:50And Butch and I both like to work out.
25:52We've had people who have been up there longer than us.
25:54You know, Frank Rubio is up there for over a year, 370 days.
25:58Other folks have been up there nine, ten months.
26:02So we all know that it's important for bone density and muscle mass to work out.
26:06And so it's one of the things that we do all the time.
26:09And both of us came back in pretty good health.
26:11Of course, you know, my hair got gray and some people asked the question.
26:15I'm like, well, do you know how old I am also?
26:17That is sort of, it sort of goes with the territory.
26:20Maybe there were some male reporters.
26:22I don't know.
26:23But it was sort of funny.
26:24It just, it happens, right?
26:26And a lot of us women at an older age, we actually dye our hair, right?
26:30So anyway, to me, it was just sort of funny in that regard.
26:34And of course, we don't have a tan.
26:36So, you know, I launched with, we were training in Florida.
26:40I was pretty tan when I launched.
26:41And so as you go, as you're in space for a little while,
26:44you're going to, of course, get a little bit whiter skin.
26:46And so I think people blew that a little bit out of proportion.
26:49So I felt really good up there.
26:51I was eating really well.
26:52My weight was maintained the whole time.
26:55I felt like I was getting stronger.
26:57You ran a marathon.
26:58I did run a marathon this time.
26:59I ran a triathlon and, or I ran a 10 miler.
27:03And I'm 60 years old.
27:05So, I mean, it's not so bad.
27:07I challenged, actually, the people in my gym.
27:09I said, when I left, I said, when you're 60, I hope you're all working out like this.
27:14And then when I came back, I worked out with them again.
27:16And I did pretty darn good.
27:18So I think I did well.
27:20And I think the media just sort of blew that out of proportion,
27:22that not understanding exactly what happens when you go to space.
27:25But Captain Bill Lim, speaking about the hair, you had quite a few good hair days.
27:30Yes.
27:30And spaced into something which the President of the United States also noticed.
27:34Yes.
27:35The lady with the crazy hair.
27:37I think something like that.
27:38Yeah.
27:38The lady with the crazy hair, we are bringing you back.
27:42It was nice.
27:44Is it a reason that you don't dye your hair or is it just that you want to wear your hair high that day?
27:49No.
27:50You know, it's an enclosed environment.
27:54I never even asked the question whether or not I could or could not.
27:56But I didn't even go there because that would cause a lot of people to have to do a lot of work.
28:00It's an enclosed environment.
28:02You know, there's chemicals with dyeing your hair and stuff like that.
28:05I didn't want to cause anybody to have any problems, including myself, in this enclosed environment.
28:10So I just let it go.
28:11And that's okay.
28:13Captain Bill Lim, I'm going to ask you the last three questions.
28:16And one of them is that whatever your image, your persona is, is brave, is formidable, is courageous, it's remarkable.
28:26What scares Captain Sunita William?
28:29Do you fear anything at all?
28:30Because it doesn't think that or it doesn't seem that you fear anything.
28:34Oh, I'm a normal human being.
28:37And, you know, there's things, of course, like when I'm hiking, I live out in the wilderness.
28:41And when I'm hiking, I'm conscientious that I'm in somebody else's house, this wild animal.
28:47So I'm in their house.
28:48I have to be respectful.
28:50I wouldn't say I was necessarily scared.
28:52But I am conscientious and aware of the wild animals that are out there, right?
28:57And respectful of them.
29:00So that's one thing.
29:02You know, I don't know what else I'm afraid of.
29:05You know, for a long time, I was afraid of the, you know, when it's too dark, you know?
29:09So when I was a kid, and I still have that a little bit.
29:14It's always nice to be home with another person versus by yourself when you're alone.
29:18You know, like it's, you always listen to the cracks and the noises in your house or
29:23in your spacecraft or whatever, if you're alone or by yourself at some period of time.
29:27So it's always nice to have somebody else around that's a little more comforting.
29:30I wouldn't necessarily say I was super scared, but it's uncomfortable.
29:34Those things are uncomfortable.
29:35So it's nice to have my husband around.
29:37Well, it's good to know that the dark scares Catherine Sunita Williams.
29:42But last two questions, India, Israel, you know, Group Captain Shukla just about missed
29:50you, you know, and you came in and you came in.
29:53We have Gaganyan happening.
29:55How are you looking at India's space journey?
29:57I'm really excited.
29:58I'm, you know, it's really awesome.
29:59I hear about so much that's going on here.
30:02This is the time.
30:03This is a golden age of space exploration for everybody around the planet.
30:07And it's time to put all the technology that we've worked on, in particular here in India,
30:13put that all to good use in a way for exploration and peaceful exploration of space.
30:19And so I'm psyched there.
30:21You know, India is cresting on.
30:24The U.S. is trying to be an integrator and a leader as we go and explore a little bit
30:29further from Earth, going back to the moon sustainably.
30:32And it's awesome to see the cooperation between India and the United States.
30:37I think that is great.
30:38And it's going to help us together go even further.
30:42So I'm pretty excited about it.
30:44I'm actually going to Vikram Sarabhai station in another couple days.
30:50And I'm really excited to see firsthand.
30:52I've never been to ISRO or Indian space areas.
30:56So I'm excited to see what's happening.
31:00No, we look forward.
31:00And I'm sure India can gain a lot from you and your knowledge and, you know, with what
31:05you've accomplished.
31:06And now that you're retired, maybe, you know, there could be a collaboration of sorts.
31:11But I'll ask you my one final question.
31:14Captain Williams, when you were in space, when you looked down, and I know there's no
31:20favorite country, but when you look down in India, what did you see?
31:23Oh, I saw the beauty of my father's homeland.
31:26I mean, it's awesome.
31:27I described a couple different ways where the spacecraft could come different directions
31:32over India, you know, coming down from the Himalayas and right across India that way.
31:38It's almost like you can see sometimes the fog is sort of like a rolling wave coming out
31:43of the Himalayas over the country until you get to the coastline, going east to, you know,
31:48northwest to southeast.
31:50Another direction of coming in, particularly at night, which was fascinating, is, you know,
31:55coming just from the east to the west over the country.
31:59And you could see the fishing boats all illuminated and sort of like a beacon as you guide your way
32:04toward Mumbai and then see the lights of the pearl necklace lights.
32:09And then, you know, continuing across India at night, for me, it was a little bit of a difference
32:14from previous flights where it's so interconnected.
32:17Like, you can see the cities all lit up, and then you could see the connections between them.
32:21It almost looks like a nerve pattern of, you know, things my father used to look at, you know,
32:26under the microscope.
32:27So very, very amazing.
32:29It reminded me, of course, a lot about my family that came from here and the deep history
32:36that's here in this country.
32:37Any regrets when you look back at 27 years?
32:42No.
32:43They're going to end on that.
32:44Yeah, I really don't have any regrets.
32:47You know, there's a lot of, in everyone's life, there's a lot of like, oh, woulda, coulda, shoulda.
32:51But like, when you look, when you step back and look at things that everybody has accomplishments,
32:56I hope everybody feels the same way I do.
32:58I feel very blessed and very lucky and very supported and loved.
33:02Well, we feel very blessed that today you sat with us and had this conversation.
33:06Captain Sunita Williams from We at India today, we wish you blue skies in the next chapter.
33:11Thank you so much.
33:11That you're embarking on.
33:13And I hope you have a fabulous retirement.
33:15And I hope we can get something out of it.
33:17Is there anything that you're reading that you recommend right now to our, do you read?
33:22Oh, of course I read.
33:22Yeah, yeah.
33:23Is there something that here at the literature?
33:24Is there a book that you recommend?
33:28Before we let you in.
33:29I am reading a book from Satguru, which is really interesting.
33:34But it takes me, it's taking me a little while because I want to savor it.
33:37I don't want to like read through it and then be done with it, right?
33:39So it's not a way to read those books, right?
33:41So I'm reading it a little bit and just sort of picking up the pieces and parts.
33:46It's really awesome.
33:47We wish you well.
33:48We wish you good health.
33:49And we hope to see you back in India.
33:51Thank you for doing this.
33:52Thank you so much.
33:53Thank you so much.
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