NASA astronaut Sunita Williams' sister-in-law Falguni Pandya said she was shown a photo of the Maha Kumbh from the International Space Station (ISS).
In an exclusive interview with NDTV, she said, "I talked to her (Sunita Williams) right before I travelled to Kumbh. I asked her if she can see the Kumbh from space and what does it look like. She then sent me a picture of it from space."
Pandya said NASA made sure Williams was "surrounded by the love of her family", remaining constantly updated on what she and her children were up to. "Compare this to 2007 when she was in space, we would spend six hours travelling to her parents' home, the NASA team would come, a satellite video of our messages would be recorded. Now, we talk to her just like we get on a call. Thanks to technology and NASA?!" she said.
A former US Navy captain, Williams, 59, was born to a Gujarati father Deepak Pandya hailing from Jhulasan in Mehsana district and Slovenian mother Ursuline Bonnie Pandya, on September 19, 1965 in Euclid, Ohio. Proud of her multicultural roots, Williams has carried symbols of her heritage to space '" including samosas, a Slovenian flag, and Ganesha idol during previous missions.
Williams and Butch Wilmore's eight-day mission to the International Space Station turned into a stay in orbit for nine months after Boeing's Starliner developed propulsion issues. The capsule undocked from the space station on Tuesday and splashed down off the Florida coast on Wednesday morning. This was Williams' third space flight and she has clocked a cumulative 608 days in space.
Wilmore and Williams' prolonged mission also became a political flashpoint. Former US President Donald Trump and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk made vague claims that the company could have returned the astronauts earlier but was allegedly blocked by the administration led by former US President Joe Biden, CNN reported.
