'Yajna' on Ganga ghat to pray for Sunita's safe return

Varanasi, June 19 (UNI) Residents of this holy city today performed a 'yajna' to pray for safe return of NASA astronaut of Indian origin, Sunita Williams.

A group of youngsters led by Anup Jaiswal performed the 'yajna' under the banner of Vande Mataram Sanghursh Samiti (VMSS) at the Dashwashamedh Ghat.

Holding posters of the astronaut -- who on Sunday last surpassed Shannon Lucid's 188 days mark of longest duration spaceflight by a woman -- the youngsters performed the religious ritual amid chants of Vedic mantras.

''Sunita is the pride of India and the entire nation is praying for her safe return to the earth aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis along with the STS-117 crew,'' Anup Jaiswal, the convenor of VMSS said.

''We do not want the deadly shadow of the 2003 Colombia disaster to cast a spell on Atlantis' safe return and this is why this religious ritual was performed,'' he said.

Seven-astronauts, including Indian born space-flier Kalpana Chawla were killed when space shuttle Colombia was blown into pieces on its way back to earth in 2003.

UNI