NASA chooses Sunita Williams for new space expeditions

Washington, July 9 (ANI): Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams has been selected to be on the crew for one of the four new International Space Station crews.

NASA and its international partners, the Russia Federal Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), have assigned these crews.

Other NASA astronauts include Joe Acaba, Sunita Williams and Kevin Ford.

Williams will fill in as flight engineer for Expedition 32 in May 2012, and station commander for Expedition 33.

Selected by NASA in 1998, Williams has clocked over 2770 flight hours in more than 30 different aircraft.

Williams' first space expedition occurred in 2006, where she was launched to the ISS aboard the shuttle Discovery.

She has served as a flight engineer aboard the International Space Station. As a member of the Expedition-14 crew Williams established a world record for females with four space walks totalling 29 hours and 17 minutes of EVA.

During her increment in space, she broke the existing record by Shannon Lucid, setting a new record for females of 195 days in space. (ANI)