Before ISRO's Flight, India's Wings To Space Shuttle Dream Were 2 Women

New Delhi: On Monday, India is all set to launch the first prototype of its space shuttle - the Reusable Launch Vehicle or RLV. Before this project, two of its most prominent ties to its American roots were two of its daughters.

American astronaut of Indian origin Sunita Williams is a veteran of flying in the American space shuttle having flown twice into space. She holds the record for maximum number of space walks by a woman having done seven on the International Space Station and has in all spent 321 days in space. Ms Williams is now chosen to be a crew member when NASA again launches its own new rockets into space.
 "I think records are made for somebody else to break. It provides a goal for the next generation to aspire to break them. I was at the right place at the right time to establish such records," Ms Williams said.

In 2003, Indian-born American astronaut Kalpana Chawla died when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during its re-entry to Earth. The US Shuttle program was grounded for several years.

Sunita Williams recalls of her association with Kalpana Chawla in whose memory India has named a satellite.
 "We were good friends from the beginning. The first time I met her when I joined NASA, she had been there already for a couple of years. It is interesting how we found each other just immediately and we did a lot of things together. She was the kind of person you would automatically connect with. Our similar backgrounds having Indian parents lent itself to that."

Speaking about the Indian space shuttle, an upbeat Ms Williams said, "That's awesome. That is the shape of things to come."