Sunita relishes chole in space

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Washington, Mar 9 (UNI) Flight Engineer Sunita ''Suni'' Williams, who arrived on the Space Shuttle STS-116 Discovery on December 11, 2006, for a six-month tour of duty, found saag paneer and chole in her ''bonus containers''which she shared with her crew mates.

''Maybe a little too hot for some'' without rice, roti or raita, she said.

''Hopefully I'll be getting some samosas before too long,'' she says in an interview which appeared in a US government publication.

Her parents -- father Dr Deepak Pandya, a neuroanantomist, who is from India, and mother Bonnie live in Massachusetts.

Ms Williams graduated from the US Naval Academy, became an engineer and a test pilot before being selected by NASA's Astronaut Candidate School in 1998.

She encourages young people to follow their dreams. ''I never thought for a moment I would be an astronaut when I was growing up.

Never thought it was possible,'' she said. ''And those ideas and those dreams ... don't let anyone tell you that you can't do them.'' Ms Williams joined Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyrurin and mission commander Michael Lopez-Alegria to continue scientific experiments and to install new equipment and upgrades to the space station.

In February, Williams logged a total of 28 hours and 17 minutes in four spacewalks, setting a record for women astronauts. But she said, ''I believe there is a generation of explorers behind me who are going to shatter my record.'' She foresees manned missions to the moon and even Mars in the coming years.

Inside or outside the space station, she says life as an ISS (International Space Station) crew member is a busy one. ''Every day is a little bit different. We get a plan by the week and there's an amazing number of things that we are doing from science to maintenance to EVAs [Extra Vehicular Activity] --which are space walks -- to robotics.'' The crew also works out every day. ''That's part of our maintaining of our bone and muscle while we're up here in microgravity.'' The view is ''amazing.'' After a month of watching the computer map that monitors the ISS location above earth, Ms Williams now can recognise the continents herself. ''You get pretty good at geography up here because you have some time to look out the window.

It's really a nice benefit.'' She says her ISS experience has affected her outlook. ''It just makes you realise a lot of things about your life,'' not only about people but the planet. She said from the space station windows, ''You can see the small, little atmosphere that protects us. We are only 200 miles or so above the earth and we are already in a microgravity environment where it's very harsh, in the vacuum of space. And it's hot and cold out there, and you realise there's not much protecting this planet.''

She adds, ''[W]e need to take care of it.'' ''Looking down at the planet, looking out at the wonderful places that there are in the world to go to, you don't really think about any of the problems that are down there . You just look at the geography and go, 'Wow! That's a really great place; I'd love to visit that one day.'' ''One of the really great aspects of the International Space Station is that it is international,'' Ms Williams said.

''We've had 16 countries working on this project. It's one of the most amazing engineering projects in the world.'' Countries that were formerly at odds now join together on engineering, medical and scientific research of all types on the ISS. ''I think that's just an example of how to work together,'' she said.

Ms Williams sees bright prospects for future astronauts: ''Many people will be up here, not only circling around our beautiful planet but going off to the moon and maybe on to Mars. The next generation has a lot to look forward to in front of them. And I wish them all good luck.''