Indian-origin Sunita Williams is among four veteran
astronauts chosen via National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to
fly the first commercial space vehicles. Other three astronauts are Robert
Behnken Eric Boe Douglas Hurley They will be trained and set for commercial
space flights of Boeing Company and SpaceX to make available low-Earth orbit
transportation services to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Thus
it will open up low-Earth orbit transportation to the private sector and help
US be once again self-reliant in space travel, as they are currently dependent
on Russia. They will also be part of NASA’s ambitious plan of human landing on
Mars by 2030.
Currently, she ranks 6th on the all-time US endurance list
and 2nd all-time for a female astronaut. Sunita Willams NASA had chosen
Williams for the astronaut programme in 1998. Previous to this she was a US
Navy captain and was a helicopter pilot with more than 3,000 flight hours
experience in more than 30 different aircraft. She holds the world records for
most spacewalk time by a woman astronaut (50 hours, 40 minutes) and most
spacewalks by a woman astronaut (seven times).
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