Indian-origin Sunita Williams opened up about her life as an astronaut and her Indian roots while on Raj Shamani's podcast. During their conversations, she revealed what India looked like from the International Space Station (ISS), especially at night.
“How does India look like from space?” Raj Shamani asks. Williams starts by explaining how it is often a bit trickier to capture a picture of India from space.
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The former NASA astronaut says, “India is sometimes tricky to get a picture of because it’s a little bit hazy at times but sometimes it's awesome. So it just depends on the weather.”
How does India look at night?
“At night, India is pretty spectacular because the cities are lit up. It’s white lights and all those lights seem to be connected,” she shares.
She explains, “It’s almost like, when I see it I think of nerves. Like pictures people have… of like… when they tell you there’s a nerve problem and these nerves are connected. India is very connected with lights at night.” She said that she got this picture during her last visit to ISS, which was not the case during her earlier visits. The Indian-origin astronaut has been to space three times.
“That was one big impression from this time which I didn’t remember from last time.
Talking more about how India looks from space, Williams continues, “Looking at India in the daytime and the colours are amazing. The Himalayas are absolutely amazing and you can sort of see… like I have said this before… feels like where the plates bumped up into each other… and you know… you know made the mountains.”
“The coast is obviously cool because you can see particularly on the east side when the rivers run off how they interact with the water on that side, the different colours and swirls from that side,” she adds.
Sunita Williams had a conversation with Raj Shamani on various topics, including her childhood, her experience in space, and what it was like being stuck in space for months.
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The 60-year-old recently announced her retirement from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).