She is excited to find adventure, but the cosmos is beckoning her once more with the promise of an amazing space expedition ~

Prepare for Lift-Off: Sunita Lyn Williams, NASA's Stellar Astronaut, Gears Up for Historic Third Space Mission Aboard Boeing's Starliner Spaceship! With training in full swing, she's set to pilot the Crew Flight Test mission, slated for launch at 10:34 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 6, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Williams at a lecture in Kolkata's Science City, April 2013!
( Source: Google Images) 

According to a NASA release, "Suni" Williams and astronaut Butch Wilmore will launch aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on an Atlas V rocket from United Launch Alliance and dock at the orbiting laboratory, where they will spend around a week.

For the Third Time in Space ~ 
This is going to be Sunita Lyn Williams' third trip into space. The 58-year-old astronaut flew on Expedition 14/15 from December 9, 2006, to June 22, 2007, on her maiden spaceflight.


Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore prepare for the upcoming mission at NASA's Johnson Space
Center in Houston. | Image by Robert Markowitz 
( Source: Google Images) 

Williams achieved a record for the most spacewalks by a woman, with a total of 29 hours and 17 minutes, during that voyage. After completing her tour, she and the STS-117 crew returned to Earth. Her second space flight was with Expedition 32/33, which took off in July 2012 from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome. She once again broke the record for the longest spacewalk ever, clocking in at fifty hours and forty minutes. Before making landfall in November 2012, she, Russian Soyuz commander Yuri Malenchenko, and Japanese flight engineer Akihiko Hoshide conducted four months of study and exploration onboard the orbiting laboratory.

Sunita Lyn Williams' Promising Profession And An Inspirational Light To Other Women ~   

Williams is a Needham, Massachusetts, resident. Deepak Pandya, her father, was an Indian neuroanatomist of international fame. Ursuline Bonnie (Zalokar) Pandya, her mother, is of Slovenian descent. Sunita, also called Suni, graduated in 1995 with a Master of Science in engineering management from the Florida Institute of Technology after earning a Bachelor of Science from the United States Naval Academy. In May of 1987, she served as a Basic Diving Officer and ensign in the US Navy. She became a Naval Aviator after reporting to the Naval Air Training Command in 1989. Williams started her training at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1993. She was employed by the Rotary Wing Aircraft Test Directorate as a V-22 pursuit pilot in the T-2 and an H-46 project officer upon her graduation. She returned to the Naval Test Pilot School in 1995, this time as a Safety Officer and teacher in the Rotary Wing Department, where she flew the OH-6, OH-58, and UH-60 helicopters. In 1998, she was deployed to the USS Saipan as an Assistant Air Boss and Aircraft Handler. Williams started her training at Johnson Space Center in August 1998 after being chosen by NASA for the astronaut program. Williams has logged over 3,000 flying hours in over 30 different types of aircraft. For her services to US space science and the US Navy, she has won several awards. Among her accolades are the Humanitarian Service Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Defense Superior Service Medal (which she received twice), and the Navy Commendation Medal twice. Aspiring astronauts and space lovers might draw inspiration from Ms. Williams' space adventure. Her accomplishments, accolades, and commitment highlight the important role that women play in STEM disciplines and leave a lasting legacy for coming generations! 


She is Set and Focused On Her 3rd Mission! 
( Source: The Washington Post )