Astronaut Sunita William Talks About her Experiences in Space in a Live Webinar by the Kalam Centre

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams was invited as a keynote speaker at a live webinar held by the Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Centre for Creating Liveable Planet and Sustainable Development on July 19, 2020. In this webinar she shared her life experiences and also encouraged aspiring astronauts to accomplish their dreams. This webinar was followed by a live question and answer session with Williams.

The Kalam centre, with its aim to create a sustainable and livable planet Earth for humanity as per the vision of Dr. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (11th President of India) conducts such live session from time to time. This time, Srijan Pal Singh, CEO of Kalam Centre, was the moderator of the session and he actively engaged in conversation with the famous astronaut.

Williams, who is a veteran of two space missions has also done the most spacewalks. She also holds the record for maximum spacewalk time by a woman. Srijan Pal Singh, CEO of Kalam Centre, was the moderator of the session. In the live webinar Sunita shared her life experiences and also encouraged aspiring astronauts to accomplish their dreams.

Her Journey of Becoming an Astronaut

Sunita earlier wanted to become a veterinarian but she could not get into the universities of her choice. Later, she became a pilot at the Naval Academy. Then ultimately she became a helicopter pilot despite her wish to become a jet pilot.She then worked towards becoming an astronaut.

Her Experiences as an Astronaut

She joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1998 and went to space in 2006. Shegot the opportunity to go to the International Space Station (ISS) where she got unique experiences while training for the space-walk. For her it was like a dream. She described that looking back at the Earth was surreal and incredible. She stated that it is very important for astronauts to have free time so that they can hold themselves together.

She also described her experience of taking the miniature versions of the Bhagavad Gita and Upanishad to space and her experience of running a marathon in space. She also shared her experience of visiting India with her family in 1998 and the connection she feels with the country.

Her Advice for Young Minds

Sunita also offered a piece of advice to young people who want to become astronauts and to especially young women. She said that every person in this journey of becoming an astronaut is equally deserving and one should  not think about imbalance in male and female ratio as she herself got the support of all those involved.

She said that to become successful in this field young people should have passion for their profession and the commitment to exploring space for the betterment of mankind.

She also presented her views on state sovereignty in space and mentioned that competition is always a good thing. She ended the session by stating that “Ultimately, we all go as just humans so we might as well contribute positively to our world!”