Sunita Williams

Sunita Lyn (born September 19, 1965) is an American astronaut and a United States Navy officer with paternal Indian and maternal Slovene roots. She holds the records for longest single space flight by a woman (192 days), total spacewalks by a woman (seven), and most spacewalk time for a woman (50 hours, 40 minutes). Williams was assigned to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14 and Expedition 15. In 2012, she served as a flight engineer on Expedition 32 and then commander of Expedition 33. Spaceflight experience Williams was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) with STS-116, aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, on December 9, 2006, to join the Expedition 14 crew. In April 2007, the Russian members of the crew rotated, changing to Expedition 15. Among the personal items Williams took with her to the ISS were a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, a small figurine of the Hindu deity Ganesha and some samosas. Kalpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla (March 17, 1962 February 1, 2003) was born in Karnal, India. She was the first Indian American astronaut and first Indian woman in space. She first flew on Space Shuttle Columbia in 1997 as a mission specialist and primary robotic arm operator. In 2003, Chawla was one of seven crew members killed in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Death Chawla died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster which occurred on February 1, 2003, when the Space Shuttle disintegrated over Texas during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, with the loss of all seven crew members, shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission, STS-107. Francis R. Scobee Mission Commander Michael J. Smith Pilot Ellison S. Onizuka Mission Specialist 1 Judith A. Resnik Mission Specialist 2 Ronald E. McNair Mission Specialist 3 Christa McAuliffe Payload Specialist 1, Teacher in space Gregory B. Jarvis Payload Specialist 2 the seven members