Sunita Williams
We certainly would not be here, living and working on the International Space Station without the commitment and dedication of all the folks who worked the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo Programs as well as the Russian Space Program.Collection: Space
All of us who are flying on international space stations speak some Russian and speak some English. Both the languages are needed to fly in a Russian spacecraft and communicate with your colleagues.Collection: Space
Planets look about the same here as they do to you on the Earth because we really aren't that much closer. Our home, the International Space Station, orbits around the Earth at about 200 miles.Collection: Space
I don't feel like a hero - just another person involved in the space business. I'm hoping to encourage young folks to become explorers.Collection: Space
A bonus container is food, especially for each individual - supposed to be one every month, but in fine Pandya fashion, I have been 'saving' them. They are food that we requested or indicated that we particularly liked.Collection: Food
The main goal of the International Space Station is to work on peaceful projects. In space, we're all people from Earth.Collection: Space
You have a lot of things to do when you're out on a space walk, and that sort of overwhelms your mind.Collection: Space
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.Collection: Space
Space felt like home.Collection: Space
My first mission was six and a half months. We weren't exactly sure how long it was going to be because I went up and back on the space shuttle, which was dependent on weather for launch and landing.Collection: Space
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.Collection: Space
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.Collection: Wedding
I wanted to be a veterinarian and go to school in Boston. It didn't quite work out that way, and I ended up joining the Navy as a suggestion of my big brother. It was really awesome - and I didn't realize it at the time, -but provided a lot of leadership and followership teamwork opportunities.Collection: Leadership
The space walks were amazing with the incredible views.Collection: Amazing
You don't look at the big problem all together, because I think it's a little intimidating. So you just take it one day at a time, meet the people who are going to meet with you, for you, and who you're going to work for, and really try to do the best job that you can. That's all teamwork, and that's what space travel is about.Collection: Travel
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.Collection: Space
The International Space Station is a great place to live for a year.Collection: Space
When I went to Test Pilot School, that's when we came to Johnson Space Center. And I ended up seeing John Young and listening to him talk and getting a positive influence from him.Collection: Positive
Funny how words in one language get used in another language. For example, 'scotch' in Russian is tape and 'pampers' means diapers.Collection: Funny
I grew up as a swimmer, speaking of sports; I spent a lot of time before school and after school swimming.Collection: Sports
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.Collection: Space
You don't see any borders between countries from space. That's man-made, and one experiences it only when you return to Earth.Collection: Space
When you look at the darkest areas in space, you feel that there's something out there that we don't know about.Collection: Space
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.
Usually, if you stop for tea, someone will feel the desire to join you.
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.
We really have the most beautiful planet in our solar system. None other can sustain life like we know it. None other has blue water and white clouds covering colorful landmasses filled with thriving, beautiful, living things like human beings.
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.
My personal opinion, Suni Williams - I think that when we really leave the planet - we all go as humans, not as people from one country or another. We are humans; we work together. This is our only planet as human beings that we know of. So we all should have an interest in preserving it.
I think I am a smart aleck because I grew up close enough to Boston, and most people from Massachusetts talk fast, and I have a little bit of a wiseacre, and I think I'm a little bit like that.
When you are thinking about going away for a long duration mission, it has to be part of your mindset that you're leaving your family, but it's for the right reasons, for good reasons, and hopefully helping humanity.
I think after orbiting for a while and looking at the surface, I think the natural tendency is to want to experience it, to go down there and touch it. I started thinking about the Apollo astronauts who orbited the moon and didn't land - that must have been agonizing!
There's one downside in comparison to both Soyuz and SpaceX, is that when you go to those places - when I went to Russia, or when I went to California - you're sort of focused on what you're doing. Your family's not there. Your lawn isn't needing to be cut. You're just focusing on what you need to do.
I am starting to think about those things that I miss from home. Ice cream is definitely one of those things we do not have up here. My favorite is pistachio. I love it with chocolate sauce.
When you're on a Soyuz flight, you know that when you go to Russia, you're going to do X, Y, and Z. You have that plan already laid out.
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.
I flew helicopters, and I loved flying helicopters on the East Coast when I did a couple of deployments out to the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf.
I will say one of my favorite Russian side dishes is beet salad. It is dehydrated beets chopped very finely with nuts. It is a great side dish. I would like to try to make this when I get home. The nuts make it!
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.
When any part of the Station is moved from its designated location to do a repair, we really risk losing things.
You can hover in the air if you want, or you can push off of something and glide through the air - just like a fish. I also think it is like being a fish, since you can catch food in your mouth easily because it is suspended in the air - just like when you put fish food in a tank - the fish swim up to it, open their mouths, and eat the food.
Mission Control in Houston receives our e-mails through a satellite and then sends them out to our family and friends. Likewise, any e-mails written to us go through the Mission Control, and then they send them up to us via a satellite.
In space, if you push, you are usually going somewhere, so staying on the treadmill was a challenge at first, even with the harness.
One thing to say about doing maintenance in space - it is difficult because the parts and pieces float away. You end up using a lot of tape and Velcro to make sure things stay put.
There is still some gravity where we are and even as far out as our moon. That is why our moon stays in orbit around the Earth. We don't feel the gravity up here because it is so much smaller than the force we feel when we are on the Earth.
There is nothing like home anywhere. There's no place like home, even in space.
I do hope there are other wonderful planets living and thriving out there, but ours is special because it is ours and ours to take care of. We really can't take that too lightly.
I flew helicopters, which actually is the second best view of the earth. The first best view is, I think, a little bit higher.
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.
In space, you need to stay as 'usual' as possible. On the space station, I would brush my hair every day.