Sunita Williams to participate in IAC-2007 at Hyd

Hyderabad, Sep 21: India-born NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian astronaut, will participate in the 58th International Astronautical Congress (IAC-2007), beginning here on September 24.

Ms Williams, who has a record-stay of 195 days in the International Space Station (ISS), and Mr Sharma will attend on September 28, the last day of the conference, ISRO Director B R Suresh said here last night.

Union Minister of State for Prime Minister Office Affairs, Prithiviraj Chauhan, would inaugurate the five-day conference, hosted by Astronautical Society of India (ASI) and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). International Astronautical Federation (IAF) will organise the event, being held at the International Convention Centres here, Dr Suresh said.

More than 200 delegates would attend the conference, in which 125 techinical sessions would be organised and 1,250 papers presented.

IAF President James Zimmermar said the next two conferences-- in 2008 and 2009-- would be held at Glasgow in Scotland and Republic of Korea respectively.

Space exhibitions and discussions on the present development in space technology would form part of the conference.

UNI