12-11-2006, 09:52 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Sunita shuttles in space with Ganesha, Gita </b>
S Rajagopalan | Washington
<span style='color:red'>With a copy of Bhagawad Gita, a Ganesh statuette and a small consignment of samosas in tow, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams has blasted off into space on board US shuttle Discovery, along with six other crew members.</span>
The International Space Station, some 220 miles above the earth, will be her home for the next six months. She will be joining two other astronauts already there, while the rest of the Discovery crew return home after their 12-day mission. Â
The Saturday night launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida was perfect - the first night-time launch in four years. Initial reports indicated the shuttle was in great shape, NASA said.
"If this is any indication, it's a great start to a great mission," commander Mark Polansky radioed back from space. "I think we have five people (all rookies, including Williams) who just haven't stopped smiling yet."
Said Williams, the daughter of Deepak and Bonnie Pandya, in a pre-flight interview released by NASA: "I just can't wait to get to my new home." <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>She is also carrying a letter in Hindi written by her father, whom she regards as her role model.</span>
"What you've seen today is the successful accomplishment of the most challenging, demanding, technically state of the art difficult thing that this nation or any nation can do," NASA chief Michael Griffin said.
Besides Polansky and Williams, the crew consists of pilot William Oefelein, mission specialists Joan Higginbotham and Nicholas Patrick, lead space walker Bob Curbeam and the European Space Agency's Christer Fuglesang.
The Discovery crew was slated to spend Sunday in orbit inspecting the shuttle for any heat shield damage before it docks with the space station on Monday.
The main task for the crew, which will deliver a $ 11 million truss to the space lab, is to rewire the space station and help the transition from a temporary power grid over the last six years to a permanent power source of power generation by a solar array that was delivered by the last shuttle in September.
It is reckoned to be an arduous job, involving three complicated space walks.
Williams herself will join space station commander Mike Lopez-Alegria on three other space walks early next year. When that happens, she will be only the sixth woman spacewalker from among 157 astronauts deployed by NASA since 1965.
At the space station, Williams will be replacing German astronaut Thomas Reiter, who has been at the station since July and will return home with the rest of the Discovery crew.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> <!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo-->
S Rajagopalan | Washington
<span style='color:red'>With a copy of Bhagawad Gita, a Ganesh statuette and a small consignment of samosas in tow, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams has blasted off into space on board US shuttle Discovery, along with six other crew members.</span>
The International Space Station, some 220 miles above the earth, will be her home for the next six months. She will be joining two other astronauts already there, while the rest of the Discovery crew return home after their 12-day mission. Â
The Saturday night launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida was perfect - the first night-time launch in four years. Initial reports indicated the shuttle was in great shape, NASA said.
"If this is any indication, it's a great start to a great mission," commander Mark Polansky radioed back from space. "I think we have five people (all rookies, including Williams) who just haven't stopped smiling yet."
Said Williams, the daughter of Deepak and Bonnie Pandya, in a pre-flight interview released by NASA: "I just can't wait to get to my new home." <span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>She is also carrying a letter in Hindi written by her father, whom she regards as her role model.</span>
"What you've seen today is the successful accomplishment of the most challenging, demanding, technically state of the art difficult thing that this nation or any nation can do," NASA chief Michael Griffin said.
Besides Polansky and Williams, the crew consists of pilot William Oefelein, mission specialists Joan Higginbotham and Nicholas Patrick, lead space walker Bob Curbeam and the European Space Agency's Christer Fuglesang.
The Discovery crew was slated to spend Sunday in orbit inspecting the shuttle for any heat shield damage before it docks with the space station on Monday.
The main task for the crew, which will deliver a $ 11 million truss to the space lab, is to rewire the space station and help the transition from a temporary power grid over the last six years to a permanent power source of power generation by a solar array that was delivered by the last shuttle in September.
It is reckoned to be an arduous job, involving three complicated space walks.
Williams herself will join space station commander Mike Lopez-Alegria on three other space walks early next year. When that happens, she will be only the sixth woman spacewalker from among 157 astronauts deployed by NASA since 1965.
At the space station, Williams will be replacing German astronaut Thomas Reiter, who has been at the station since July and will return home with the rest of the Discovery crew.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd--> <!--emo&:cool--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/specool.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='specool.gif' /><!--endemo-->