My siblings and I grew up on Indian food. My mother, though of Slovenian descent, learned to cook Indian delicacies for my father after their wedding.
— Sunita Williams
My father, who is deeply spiritual and religious, always stressed that my siblings and I remain true to our Indian roots.
It's just this beautiful laboratory in space, and it's doing a lot of really cool things. So being up there and just being able to fly through that big station one more time and do some experiments while you're up there and get that view out of the cupola... priceless.
There was nothing in my past that had lended itself to anything that had to do with space except for watching 'The Jetsons' and 'Star Trek' and stuff when I was little.
When you're faced with something for the first time, and if you're scared to death of that, you might want to reconcile your life beforehand.
Gravity on Earth provides a force that keeps our bones and muscles working. In the microgravity of space, our bones and muscles are not taxed, so they begin to atrophy.
Every month, we weigh ourselves to make sure we aren't losing weight. I really have been eating more than I do on Earth to make sure I don't lose too much weight.
What is true and what most folks think is that there is no sound in space. From almost all recollections, I would agree.
The Space Station is primarily made of aluminum. The smell is really weird and sort of like burning metal. It is absolutely distinct and totally repeatable.
There are areas of the Earth that I would absolutely think no one lived in based on daytime observations. But then at night, lights pop up in those areas.
I think windows are really important for the psychological health of crew members on long duration missions. It is nice to look outside, even if it is dark.
NASA, like every government organization, has some bureaucracy, which can become slimmer.
During our journey, we did weight lifting, squats, and dead lifts to regenerate the bone density. Luckily, my muscle mass and bone density did not alter. Our workout was so rigorous.
There are millions of stars out there. It is difficult to think that life does not exist in any one of them.
When you look at the darkest areas in space, you feel that there's something out there that we don't know about.
We try to keep it a normal day while we're up in space. You know, you don't want to change your time cycle too much, so we just keep it normal. And so, about 5 or 6 o'clock at night, after we finish working, we knock it off by having prerecorded shows that we watch sometimes through the computer while we're eating dinner.
I flew helicopters, which actually is the second best view of the earth. The first best view is, I think, a little bit higher.
I love anything paneer! Our family favorite, however, is 'Dal Dhokli,' a quintessential Gujarati dish of bread dumplings and lentil soup. That's the big meal of the week typically prepared by my mother on Sundays.
Six months away from family and friends is a long time. Emotionally, you go through some ups and downs. Life changes on the ground, and you have to ready for that. Life changes for you up here as well.
I think every test pilot's dream is to be on the start of something that's brand new.
We are lucky to live on such a planet, and we should not take it for granted. After my space experience, I am a lot more tolerant of people and opinions, of everything.
Me personally - not something to do with NASA - I do think there is a God, and it's somebody looking out for us and trying to guide us to live a very happy, productive life. There is further meaning. That's just my thought.
The first 6 hours of being in orbit were a little difficult on my stomach. I think things just didn't know where to go!
The Progress is launched from Baikonur in Kazakhstan, just like the Soyuz. It almost looks the same as the Soyuz but unmanned, so, essentially filled up with supplies for us - anything from food, science experiments, repair parts, etc., can go in it.
The feel of space... Some folks have asked what it is like to work out in space. Yes, you can work upside down, right side up, sideways - anyway you want to to make it convenient.
Sweat doesn't fall off you. The water just accumulates until it gets too big and agitated and falls off like a sphere of water. It then floats around until it hits something. It takes a lot of water to fall off. Usually it just hangs on, so you get a quick build-up of sweat when working out.
The food containers come in different varieties: for example, drinks, breakfast type food, meats, vegetables. There are about 5-10 days of that type of food in each container. We try not to open a new container until we finish the one we are on - even if that means going without coffee for a couple of days.
I will absolutely admit that the feel and smell of sea spray and wind on my face will be very welcome. I will be happy to come back to Earth, our beautiful planet, when it is time.
It's - I mean, the Olympics, what is it? It's an international competition to foster friendship and - and competition across - across the planet, and I think that's exactly what the International Space Station is.
As the spinal cord increases, it makes you taller. However, after landing on the Earth, you shrink a bit. What was worrisome was that some of the wrinkles, which had disappeared there, came back.
You don't see any borders between countries from space. That's man-made, and one experiences it only when you return to Earth.
Once you get into the spacecraft, you're on your way, you've got a mission, you're focused, and it's really exciting.
On the second flight, we were doing a lot of science experiments, and we've got a really cool window called the cupola. It's a big, circular window with six panes around, sort of at angles so you can see the Earth, you can see the edge of the Earth, you can go out - look out into the universe. It's pretty spectacular.
There is nothing like home anywhere. There's no place like home, even in space.
It's only now that I see the bigger picture: Our ways to attain spirituality may be different - through diverse religious, customs and traditions - but they're modeled on similar principles and ideologies. That's what ties us all together.
I sometimes think this is just my life: I go to mow the lawn and sometimes go to space. But when other people say what you've done is really impactful, that's really humbling.
Becoming an astronaut was a little bit of happenstance for me.
The main goal of the International Space Station is to work on peaceful projects. In space, we're all people from Earth.
There is a distinct layer between the Earth and the universe, which is extremely black. Slowly, the entire universe starts to look 3D, like you can fly through it rather than this sphere of blackness overhead. And when you're above the atmosphere, there isn't water vapour in the air to make things foggy.
Ventilation is needed to ensure we get air disbursed throughout the Station. Air stagnates without flow, so it is essential to have good ventilation so one doesn't end up in a bubble of CO2 by accident and then not be able to breathe.
In order to 'go out the door' safely, we go through a pretty thorough process called pre-breathe. This is the process of flushing all the nitrogen out of our systems by breathing higher concentrations of oxygen.
Space is absolutely a 3-D world in comparison to our 2-D world on Earth.
When I go skiing in New England, I usually wake up early and drive up to Vermont, New Hampshire, or Maine to make it in time for chairlift opening. That means leaving early and getting breakfast at one of the little quaint diners up in the mountains.
It is a common fact that we see light flashes in a dark environment while living up here, and this experiment is essentially trying to detect how we humans detect these flashes - not sure if these are visual, if they are some type of radiation maybe sensed by some other part of the brain.
I personally look forward to building the Orion. I believe that our country needs to pursue that technology.
In my space journey, I felt vulnerable because we did not have anyone with medical background. When we make that big trip to Mars, we would need a doctor on board.
My space expedition has changed my perspective towards people. Looking down at the Earth, we could not see borders or people with different nationalities. It was then that realisation dawned on us that all of us are a group of human beings and citizens of the universe.
The space program is a peaceful project. The next door is opening. We have to go farther into space. But, before that, we need to develop far more improved nutrition and more advanced spacecraft.
The International Space Station is a great place to live for a year.
When I was up on my first flight, we were really putting it together. So, I was essentially a construction worker.
