Sunita Williams Will Again Travel to Space in 2012: NASA
The NASA has announced that Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams will for the second time travel to space in June 2012, said media reports.
Williams, 44, born of Gujarati parents in Euclid, Ohio, holds the longest space flight of 195 days for space women.
She would be joined by flight engineers Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide on Soyuz 31 flight to the space station in June 2010, reports said.
NASA and its international partners, the Russia Federal Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which have assigned four new International Space Station crews, made the announcement in this regard on Saturday.
NASA said that William would become the commander of the International Space Station in October 2012.
Williams, who was selected by NASA in June 1998, served as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station.
She launched with the crew of STS-116 on December 9, 2006, docking with the station on December 11, 2006.
As a member of the Expedition-14 crew Williams established a world record for females with four spacewalks totaling 29 hours and 17 minutes of EVA.
Astronaut Peggy Whitson subsequently broke the record in 2008 with her five total spacewalks.
Williams concluded her tour of duty as a member of the Expedition-15 crew returning to Earth with the STS-117 crew to land at Edwards Air Force Base on June 22, 2007.
During her increment in space, Williams broke the existing record by Shannon Lucid, setting a new record for females of 195 days in space.
(Based on internet reports)
