Sunita's India visit to be inspiration for students

New Delhi, July 20 (UNI) American Astronaut Sunita Williams today said her proposed India visit in September this year will be used to interact with as many students as possible and meet her relatives and friends.

''I am really looking forward to the trip on which the NASA team is working on. I will meet some of my family members. I have some good friends in Delhi. I want to thank everybody, especially people from Gujarat, for praying for my safe return,'' Sunita of Indian origin said from Houston, the US, in a teleconferencing with scientists, students and media in Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata.

She is likely to participate in the 58th International Astronautical Congress in Hyderabad in September.

Sunita, the first woman to spend the maximum time in space, said she felt a bit shaky when she landed in space.

''I felt like my neck has grown. But the human body is pretty amazing. It adjusts within 24 hours. I forgot how it felt like walking,'' she remarked.

She said it was fun to see changes happen to her body.

''I soemtimes felt sort of a bird, sometimes sort of a fish. It was beautiful seeing the earth, and space above. Everything was crystal clear.'' Her experience of landing on earth last month was equally wonderful.

''I felt like a mummy for two days,'' she said and added that it took her two weeks to get on her own.

''Now I have started running.'' Asked whom she missed the most while she was in space for six months, she said her husband.

Asked whether she missed her husband the most or her dog, she said laughingly: ''My husband will kill me if I say the dog.'' ''I think I missed both,'' she added.

Sunita considers her father a great role model.

''Mother inspired me to put in extra hardwork. Both parents were great influence. I got the best of both cultures.'' Sunita said she would now want to go to the Moon and also to Mars.

''Mars would be different as nobody has gone earlier. And the trip would be longer than that to the Moon.'' UNI