It's really nice to be back, says Sunita Williams

HOUSTON: Back after a record six-month space flight, Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams is slowly acclimatising to life on earth and coping with gravity.

Williams, who returned to the Edwards Air Force Base after a 195-day mission to the International Space Station, is glad to be back and looks forward to resuming a normal routine.

"It's really nice to be back," she said in an interview to the Houston Chronicle.
   
"It was nice to smell that sage air, feel the desert breeze, and it was really nice to put feet on the ground."

Her reunion with gravity was joyous, though temporarily unpleasant.

After months of being weightless, her gravity-sensing organs are reacclimatising to the pull of gravity and the inner struggle has made her nauseous, a feeling each astronaut must endure.

"Every time I turned my head, I felt a little nauseous," she recalled.
   
In a separate interview to TV channels, Williams said the first 24 hours after her return to earth were a little tough.

But she said her record stay in space is important for future space flights, even travel to Mars.
 
"The ISS is a stepping stone, it is a working laboratory to find out how it is to live in space -- essentially that is what we are doing, we are not only working but living in space -- and we are finding out what it takes to be up there for extended periods of time because it will take us a while to get to Mars, and then work there and then return," she said in the interview telecast in a private news channel.

Williams, who also holds the record for space walks, will spend her first 45 days back on earth in a NASA physical rehabilitation programme designed to help astronauts strengthen bones and muscles weakened by the absence of gravity.

"Physically, I feel pretty strong," she said. "But I'm taking my time. I'm not ready to run yet," she told the Chornicle.

She will be using her breaks from the rehab prorgamme to be with her family. "Six months away from family and friends is a long time. Emotionally, you go through some ups and downs.

"Life changes on the ground, and you have to ready for that. Life changes for you up here as well," she told the paper.

While she is comfortable with the spotlight for now, Williams looks forward to a point when she can resume a more normal routine.

"I'll be happy to go back to work, ride my bicycle, run on the beach and just hang out with my husband," she said.

Her experience in space has helped change the way she looked at the earth. "Look at this grass. It's all so pretty.

"It's nice, but it's not natural like you see the earth from space. You see the cracks, the craters; you see the rivers, the mountains. You want to leave the earth as pristine and as untouched as possible.
 
That is the impression you get," Williams told the Chronicle.

Another good moment on her return was the reunion with Gorby, her Jack Russell terrier. "He recognised me right away," she said. "He jumped up in my lap and just sat there."