Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams has celebrated her 59th birthday – her second birthday in space.
Sunita Williams is currently stuck at the International Space Station (ISS) after NASA declared Boeing’s faulty Starliner spacecraft unsuitable for human travel. While the Starliner has safely returned to Earth, Sunita Williams is expected to return on SpaceX’s capsule in February next year.
Sunita Williams celebrated her 59th birthday on September 19 on the ISS. She dedicated her entire day to critical maintenance tasks and scientific research on the space lab.
Together with fellow astronaut Don Pettit, he worked on the maintenance of life support systems on the I.S.S.
The astronaut pair then changed filters in the station’s waste and hygiene room — known as the space bathroom.
59-year-old Sunita Williams made history by becoming the first woman to fly on the first mission of Starliner. The Starliner flight is Sunita Williams’ third flight to space – the first in 2006 and the second in 2012.
According to NASA, “Sunita has spent a total of 322 days in space”, and is the second-most frequently performed spacewalking female astronaut.
On her birthday, Sunita Williams received a rendition of legendary singer Mohammed Rafi’s birthday song ‘Baar Baar Din Ye Aaye’ from Indian music company Saregama.
In a post on Instagram, Saregama shared: “Let’s sing #HappyBirthdaySunita with India’s biggest icon and send our collective wishes to astronaut Sunita Williams in space. Use #HappyBirthdaySunita to post your videos and tag @saregama_official”.
In a video shared along with the post, film director Karan Johar and eminent singers Sonu Nigam, Shaan, Hariharan and Neeti Mohan sang a song to wish him on his birthday.
The post also called on people to create videos wishing Sunita Williams and share them with #HappyBirthdaySunita.
Meanwhile, Sunita Williams is expected to cast her vote from space in the 2024 US presidential elections to be held on November 5.
Sunita Williams’ space stay, originally scheduled for an eight-day mission, has now been extended to eight months.
Commenting on being stranded in space, the Indian-origin astronaut said in a recent video press conference, “That’s how things are in this business.”
He said the transition to station life “wasn’t that difficult” because both astronauts already had experience on the I.S.S.
Reflecting on her extended mission, Sunita Williams said, “This is a happy place for me. I love being here in space.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)