Sunita Williams embarked on her Second Space Mission

Sunita Williams, the Indian-American astronaut, set off for her second space mission on 15 July 2012. NASA astronaut Williams was accompanied by Russian cosmonaut Yury Malenchenko and Japan's Akihito Hoshide aboard Russian Soyuz Spacecraft.

Sunita Williams, whose father hailed from Gujarat, was born on 19 September 1965 in Euclid, Ohio and was raised in Massachusetts in US. She received her B.S degree in Physical Science from US Naval Academy in 1987, while M.S degree in Engineering Management from Florida Institute of Technology in 1995. She was selected at NASA in June 1998. After Kalpana Chawala, she is the only woman of Indian origin who have been selected by NASA for a space mission.

Previously she served as a flight engineer on board the International Space Station. She launched with the crew of STS-116 on 9 December 2006, docking with the station on 11 December 2006. As a member of the Expedition-14 crew Williams created 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 22 June 2007. Sunita also holds the record for for being the first female to have spent 195 days in space.