Sunita Williams wanted to fly jets like this Hollywood superstar, he is..., inspiration came from film...

NASA astronaut Sunita Williams return to earth is eagerly expected by the whole world. Sunita Williams return date and time has been released by NASA. Sunita herself is very excited to return to Earth. While onboard the ISS, she talked about how it was to stay in space. She explained her physical and mental well-being and said, “I’ve been up here long enough that I’m trying to remember what it’s like to walk. I haven’t walked. I haven’t sat down. I haven’t laid down. You don’t have to. You can just close your eyes and float.” 

Now that she is returning with Crew9 members, Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore posed for their last photos aboard the International Space Station after which they packed up and closed the hatches before departing for Earth which will be a 17-hour journey.  

Sunita Williams' inspiration

In an earlier interview Sunita had shared how a Hollywood film, featuring the well-known star of the time Tom Cruise. While reminiscing her earlier days of education and training, she revealed that 1986’s Top Gun gave her inspiration to become a pilot. She gave the interview while on a trip to India in January 2018. At the time, she had a conversation with school students describing her career journey and the various challenges she faced throughout. 

“I wanted to fly jets because of Top Gun, but I ended up becoming a helicopter pilot instead. My journey wasn’t straightforward, and it wasn’t until my mid-twenties, after attending test pilot school and meeting astronauts, that I realized I had some of the same qualifications. That’s when I thought, ‘Maybe this is the path I should take,’” she said. 

Sunita recollects experience of living in space

Sunita has a record for most spacewalks by a woman and her total spacewalk time is 50 hours and 40 minutes, which is the highest for any woman. In her previous interviews Sunita Williams also spoke about the physiological changes she went through. “Your calluses disappear because you don’t walk, and I noticed my nails and hair grew faster. In zero gravity, some wrinkles on your face might temporarily smooth out as fluids shift upwards. Your spine expands because there’s no pressure on the cartilage between vertebrae, making you a little taller in space. However, these changes reverse when you return to Earth, and gravity brings you back to your normal height, sometimes with a bit of back pain.” 

Sunita Williams' inspiration to become an astronaut came from her father, Deepak Pandya, who immigrated to the United States from India. He was a neuroanesthesiologist and encouraged her to pursue a career in science and engineering.