Indian-origin NASA astronaut\u00a0Sunita Williams’ cousin<\/a> today said she was “happy” that she has returned to Earth safely\u00a0after an unexpected nine-month stay in space.<\/p>\n

“That moment was surreal,” her cousin, Falguni Pandya, told NDTV, referring to the SpaceX Dragon spaceship, which was carrying Ms Williams and her colleague Butch Wilmore, making a soft splashdown off Florida’s coast this morning.<\/p>\n

Ms Williams, 59, and Mr Wilmore, 62, undocked from the ISS at 10:35 am IST yesterday to begin a 17-hour trip back to Earth.<\/p>\n

They flew to the International Space Station (ISS) on June 5 last year, on what was supposed to be a days-long roundtrip to test out Boeing’s Starliner on its first crewed flight. However, the spaceship developed propulsion problems and was deemed unfit to fly back and instead returned uncrewed.<\/p>\n

Ms Pandya, who spoke to NDTV from a temple after her cousin headed home, expressed her gratitude to God for making “everything work well”.<\/p>\n

She also said Ms Williams will soon visit India.<\/p>\n

“We are also planning on going on vacation together. There is going to be a lot of family time,” she said.<\/p>\n

\u200bSunita Williams returned to Earth today after an unexpected nine-month stay in space.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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