Houston, June 24
Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams had an emotional reunion with her family as friends and well-wishers gave her a rousing reception here, a day after her return from a record-setting mission to the International Space Station.
"This gravity thing takes a bit getting used to," said Williams, a little wobbly after months of weightlessness, after landing with her six crewmates on a NASA Gulfstream jet at Ellington Field in Texas.
Several hundred well-wishers, many of them family, friends and co-workers from NASA's Johnson Space Centre, gathered at Ellington Field to greet Williams and the six Atlantis astronauts.
"I'm not sure what I should say. There are so many to thank," said Williams her voice breaking with emotion.
"I'm a girl, so I'm allowed to do this," she said with a grin as tears welled up in her eyes, she said as the crowd broke out into applause.
Williams, 41, who spend a record 195 days in space, the longest for any woman, quoted Tony Dungy, who became the first black coach to win American football’s Super Bowl. "He said something like, ‘It's just the time and the place. There were many before me and many after me who can do this.
"It's just the time and place," said Williams, noting she hopes her mission paves the way for more women to travel to space, during a 20-minute ceremony in an open hanger.
Williams was joined by her husband, Michael, her mother and sister, and Gorby, her Jack Russell Terrier.
The astronaut said she would spend the rest of the weekend getting reacquainted with her husband and Gorby.
With her return to Earth, Williams began a 45-day physical rehabilitation programme to regain bone mass and strength in her muscles.
The mission was the first for Williams, who has said she hopes to launch again.
Atlantis touched down at Edwards Air Force Base in California after stormy weather in Florida prevented a return to the Kennedy Space Centre.
— PTI
