Being a citizen of the earth is more important: Sunita Williams

“Up there in space when you are working with people from different countries, you don’t think of yourself as Indians, Americans or Japanese. You are citizens of the earth,” said Sunita Williams.

She was echoing Kalpana Chawla’s sentiments at a private dinner held in her honour on Friday night. “Being a citizen of the universe is more important than citizen of a country,” she said.

She was visibly impressed with the work being done at the Polio Foundation, and even made a donation to the organisation. Williams also interacted with differently-abled children while on a tour of the facility.

“During my stay here I have seen some of the good work being done. I am sad that I couldn’t stay long to see more of it,” she said. She confessed that she was overwhelmed to see the huge turnout.

Unfortunately, it was a disappointment for those children in the hall who could not meet her due to the crowd, despite waiting for quite some time.

Williams took a few questions from kids most of which centred around her experience in space. Asked how she felt while in space, she said it was more “like being a bird without having to flap your wings to stay afloat”.

A video of hers while in space inside the International Space Station doing everyday activities like brushing her teeth and others were also showed. She advised the audience, particularly the children, not to take their health for granted. 

To a question by a child on whether she saw similar endeavors like that of the ISS happening from India, she said that the present one was a result of collaboration with several other countries.

“Hopefully, in the future we may see NASA and ISRO working together,” said Williams. In her speech, she said that the next generation will go farther than what she has achieved.

“Maybe they will go to the moon again or even Mars. Moreover we have a team of professionals including engineers, technicians, teachers, veterinarians and doctors working together.

“Space science is not only about one person but about people from different walks of life coming together to accomplish something,” said Williams, adding that she felt at home in Gujarat. She left for the US on Saturday.