Saturday, June 23, 2007
Sunita Williams
Williams considers Needham, Massachusetts to be her hometown. She is married to Michael J. Williams, she is Indian-Slovenian American and has a pet Jack Russell Terrier named Gorby. Her recreational interests include running, swimming, biking, triathlons, windsurfing, snowboarding and bow hunting. She is an avid Boston Red Sox fan. Her parents are Deepak Pandya and Bonnie Pandya, who reside in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Dr. Deepak Pandya is a famous neuroanatomist. Williams' roots on her father's side go back to Gujarat in India and she has been to India to visit her father's family. She is of Slovenian descent from her mother's side.[2]
Among the personal items Williams took with her to the International Space Station (ISS) are a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a small figurine of Ganesha and some samosas.[3]
After launching aboard Discovery, Williams arranged to donate her pony tail to Locks of Love. The haircut by fellow astronaut Joan Higginbotham occurred aboard the International Space Station and the ponytail was brought back to earth with the STS-116 crew.[4]
In early March 2007 she received a tube of wasabi in a Progress spacecraft resupply mission in response to her request for more spicy food. Opening the tube, which was packaged at one atmospheric pressure, the gel-like paste was forced out in the lower-pressure of the ISS. In the free-fall environment, the spicy geyser was difficult to contain.[5]
That pics shows a MIRV re-entry.
netchicken:
Don't know origin of this but he must have been in there a while from the look of his hands
edit: BNoble found the origin of this picture, and its very tragic. I would have removed it ,but seeing its been here for so long I figured to leave it with an explanation...
Omayra Sanchez (the girl pictured) was 12 years old at the time and lived with her parents, her brother and an uncle. However, prior to the tragedy, her mother had traveled to Bogotá on business. Omayra could not escape and was trapped under her own home's concrete plaque and debris.
When rescue teams tried to help her, they realized that her legs were trapped. The only feasible option was to pull her out by breaking and ripping her legs off. Omayra remained strong until the last moment of her life. According to people who were by her side during those moments, the little girl wanted to live, saying her only worry was to go back to school.
The people who were trying to save her life begged the pilots of overflying helicopters to get a pump so the water could have been drained out. After two days a pump was delivered, but unfortunately it did not work properly and finally got stuck because of the mud and debris.