Sunita Williams’ ‘amazing’ reply when asked ‘how does India look from space?’

Back in 1984, Rakesh Sharma, India’s first astronaut, looked down at his homeland from space and summed it up with a line from Muhammad Iqbal’s poem, “Saare Jahaan Se Accha” — when then prime minister Indira Gandhi asked him in Hindi: “How does India look from space?”.

Fast forward four decades, and Sunita Williams, an Indian-origin NASA astronaut who recently returned from 286 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS), was asked s similar question.

On Monday, when a journalist asked Sunita Williams how India looked from up there, she didn’t miss a beat. “Indian is amazing, just amazing,” she said while describing the breathtaking view of the Himalayas from space.

“Every time we went over the Himalayas, we got incredible pictures. It happened like a ripple and flows down into India,” added Sunita Williams, who, along with Butch Wilmore, held their first news conference since returning to Earth.

“I have described it before like this ripple that happened obviously when the plates collided and then, as it flows down into India, it is many-many colours. I think when you come from the East going into Gujarat and Mumbai, and (you see) the fishing fleet that is off the coast there, it gives you a little bit of a beacon, here we come. All throughout India, I think the impression that I had was this network of lights and from the bigger cities going to the smaller cities, and just incredible to look at night as well as during the day highlighted of course by the Himalayas which is just incredible as the forefront going down into India,” she said.

Is Sunita Williams planning to visit India?

When asked if she would like to visit India and help the Indian Space Research Organisation’s flight programme, Williams said. “I hope we can meet up at some point and share our experiences with as many people in India – why as possible because it is a great country and another wonderful democracy. That is trying to put its foot in the space countries and would love to be a part of that and help them along.”

Butch Wilmore, who was sitting right next to Williams, quickly asked her, “Do you plan to take your crew members on that trip with you?”

“Absolutely,” replied Williams, whose parents were born in India.

NASA Crew-9 astronauts Williams, Nick Hague, Wilmore, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, reentered Earth’s atmosphere and breathed air for the first time in over nine months on March 18, following the successful splashdown of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule at 5:57 pm EDT.

After their return, Wilmore and Williams began physical therapy at the Johnson Space Center to help their bodies readjust to Earth’s gravity. The therapy is a standard procedure for astronauts returning from space.

During a press conference on Monday, both astronauts appeared to be in high spirits and good physical condition. Williams even revealed that she had gone for a 3-mile run on Sunday.