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Sunita Williams creates history as she becomes the first woman to pilot a new spacecraft to space

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She is going to the International Space Station for the third time and is already a record holder holding many firsts

Our Bureau

Cape Canaveral, FL

Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams flew to space for the third time along with Butch Wilmore. Both the NASA astronauts create history as the first members aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station.

Boeing’s Crew Flight Test mission carrying Williams, and Butch Wilmore lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida after multiple delays.

Williams, 58, is the pilot for the flight test while Wilmore, 61, is the commander of the mission. Williams also made history as the first woman to embark on such a mission. And it won’t be her first entry in the history books.

A former record holder for most 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. That came after she ran the Boston Marathon from the space station in 2007.

Williams received her commission as an Ensign in the United States Navy from the United States Naval Academy in May 1987. Williams was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1998 and is a veteran of two space missions, Expeditions 14/15 in 2006 and 32/33 and 2012.

Williams is a native of Needham, Massachusetts, and was born in Euclid, Ohio, to Indian-American neuroanatomist from Mumbai, Deepak Pandya, and Slovene-American Bonnie Pandya. Williams’ paternal family is from Jhulasan in the Mehsana district in Gujarat, India. Williams graduated from Needham High School in 1983. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in physical science from the United States Naval Academy in 1987, and a Master of Science degree in engineering management from Florida Institute of Technology in 1995.

Boeing’s Crew Flight Test mission has been delayed for several years because of setbacks in the spacecraft’s development. Last-minute computer trouble nixed Saturday’s launch attempt for Boeing’s first astronaut flight, the latest in a string of delays over the years.

With the launch, Boeing became the second private firm able to provide crew transport to and from the ISS, alongside Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

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