After Kalpana Chawla, she may become the second woman of Indian origin to go into space. Sunita Williams has just completed an Astronaut Candidate Training at United State’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and might be a crew member of a future space expedition by NASA.Incidentally, Sunita Williams is the first cousin of former State Revenue Minister Haren Pandya. Her father Dipak Pandya, who hails from Kadi taluka of Mehsana district is the brother of Haren Pandya’s mother. A trained Naval pilot, Sunita Williams was selected in NASA in June 1998 and has since undergone several training programmes there.On December 23, 2002, Sunita Williams was named as a Back Up crew of International Space Station Expedition 10, a body formed by 16 countries that are jointly involved in space exploration.‘‘The family visits Gujarat once every five years and stay at my house for over a fortnight. I am happy to know that Sunita has been chosen as back up crew,’’ Haren Pandya says,Vacha Shukla, daughter of Haren Pandya’s sister Chhaya Shuklam says: ‘‘From the family, only I keep in touch with Sunita through e-mails. About a fortnight ago, she told me that a major part of her training is over and she might get a chance to go into space by January 2004.’’
