WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:17.000 Music. 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:21.000 SUNITA WILLIAMS: Hi. My name is Sunita Williams. I'm a NASA astronaut. 00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:26.000 QUESTION: What did you enjoy about your space flight? 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:29.000 WILLIAMS: It was an amazing experience for me. It was a long time. 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:31.000 I joined the astronaut corps in 1998, 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:35.000 so it was about eight years before I had the opportunity to go into space. 00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:39.000 But as soon as I got, as soon as we all got there on STS-116 00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:42.000 and were able to just look out the window, see the space station for the first time, 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:45.000 those gold solar panels as we were approaching it, 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:49.000 I was beside myself with how wonderful just the view was, 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:54.000 not to mention I had the opportunity to do a couple spacewalks while I was up there, 00:00:54.000 --> 00:01:00.000 and just having that visor between you and the outside of space was just incredible, 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:02.000 and to look and see Northern Lights, 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:07.000 as well as our beautiful planet out into space was just amazing. Just incredible. 00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:10.000 QUESTION: What was life like aboard the International Space Station? 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:13.000 WILLIAMS: So you can fly from one end of the lab right through the 00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:19.000 Node and into the Russian segment through the PMA, and that's just a lot of fun. 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:21.000 There's always a constant humming of the pumps in the 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:24.000 background and the fans in the ventilations system, 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:27.000 so you're always hearing a little buzz. But if you want some quiet, 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:29.000 you can go into the quiet of the Kyuta. 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:33.000 I think the best memory that I have from living on the ISS 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:36.000 is the camaraderie of the crewmates up there. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:40.000 Every evening,we would get together and have dinner around the table in the service module 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:43.000 and just share stories with each other about the day. 00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:47.000 Sometimes we'd discuss language and the idiosyncrasies of the different languages, 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:51.000 and it was just always fun just to reflect and realize where we were. 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:54.000 QUESTION: Tell us about your dog Gorby and his sudden fame. 00:01:54.000 --> 00:02:02.000 WILLIAMS: Gorby is my Jack Russell terrier and I got him in 2001.Gorby's my little buddy. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:06.000 Gorby, I spent a lot of time in Russia training for this mission for the 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:10.000 International Space Station and so of course I got to know a lot about Russia, 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:16.000 and of course one of the distinguished people of the Russian history is Mikhail Gorbachev. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:18.000 I heard about, I heard about Gorby sightings. 00:02:18.000 --> 00:02:23.000 Heidi Piper was down on NEEMO underwater and they had a big Gorby magnet there, 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:27.000 and then one of the gentlemen from the press had written me an e-mail and said, 00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:31.000 "Hey, we have Flat Gorby sightings all over the world." 00:02:31.000 --> 00:02:34.000 He was in Japan, he was in Russia, so he was all over the place, 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:37.000 and it was really nice. It was uplifting. 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:39.000 It made me laugh every time I got an e-mail from them. 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:43.000 QUESTION: How did you adjust to weightlessness? 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:46.000 WILLIAMS: I would say the transition to microgravity was a little bit easier. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:50.000 It took me just about 24 hours and then I felt like I was used to it, and then I loved it. 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:55.000 A little clumsy, but I got used to being able to fly around pretty quickly thereafter. 00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:59.000 Coming back to Earth, it probably took a couple days just for the neurovestibular effects 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:02.000 to start to wear off. Sort of went off like a light switch with me, 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:05.000 but it's a little bit different for everybody. But I can still feel 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:08.000 I'm a little bit slower in running than I was before I left, 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:10.000 but I heard it's usually a day for day, so it will probably take 00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:14.000 me about six months to get back to where I was before I left. 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:17.000 QUESTION: Do you see life on Earth differently now? 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:22.000 WILLIAMS: Definitely see things on Earth a lot different than before I went. 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:27.000 When we were up there, we had the distinct pleasure of being able to look out the window 00:03:27.000 --> 00:03:32.000 and see our beautiful planet and see continents, and no borders for countries, 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:35.000 and I think that was a huge impression. You look down at the 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:39.000 planet Earth and it's hard to imagine two people even arguing, 00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:41.000 never mind fighting down there, because it all looks like one, 00:03:41.000 --> 00:03:44.000 that we live on these wonderful continents together. 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:48.000 The second impression I got was looking out the side window at how thin our little 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:52.000 atmosphere is that protects us from all the dangers of living in 00:03:52.000 --> 00:03:57.000 space, of vacuum and heat and cold, and we can't take any of that for granted. 00:03:57.000 --> 00:03:58.000 QUESTION: Who inspired you? 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:02.000 WILLIAMS: Well, I think my parents were a huge inspiration to me. Both of them had 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:08.000 came from not-so-well-to-do families and made it on their own, 00:04:08.000 --> 00:04:11.000 and both of them have a huge "can-do" spirit, and influenced me 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:14.000 to take chances and do as well as I can. 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:20.000 John Young was a huge inspiration for me to even apply to the astronaut corps when my 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:25.000 test pilot school class met him when we came to visit to Johnson Space Center. 00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:27.000 QUESTION: With space flight behind you, what would you like to do next? 00:04:27.000 --> 00:04:28.000 WILLIAMS: I'd love to go back to space. 00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:33.000 I'd love to go to the space station again as the commander of the space station. 00:04:33.000 --> 00:04:38.000 I'd love to be part of the Crew Exploration Vehicle and do whatever we need to do 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:43.000 for the testing of that as we get ready to go back to the moon andon to Mars.