New York: Indian American astronaut Sunita Williams was honoured as Grand Marshal of the Veterans Day Parade, which pays tribute to former military members.
Williams, a retired Navy captain, led the parade of 20,000 people along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue on Wednesday (local time).
Being the Grand Marshal is “an incredible honour”, she said and recalled, “My time in the Navy shaped who I am and prepared me for every challenge that followed”.
“I’m proud to join New Yorkers and Americans from around the country in honouring the service, sacrifice, and commitment of veterans from every generation”, she said.
Williams was a test pilot before she joined NASA, going on three missions for a total of 608 days in space and setting a record for the most spacewalks by a woman with nine for a total of 62 hours.
This was the 107th annual Veterans Day Parade, and it featured thousands of former military members and contingents from the armed services, local law enforcement, community groups and schools, with several bands.
Many companies had floats in the parade showcasing former military personnel working for them.
On the eve of the parade, Williams participated in the 251st anniversary of the Marine Corps’ founding on board the USS San Antonio.
She is the daughter of Deepak Pandya, a neuroanatomist, and Ursuline Pandya, who is from Slovenia.
She made headlines when an eight-day trip to the International Space Station (ISS) on the first crewed flight of the Boeing Starliner in 2024 turned into a nine-month odyssey because of technical problems with the Starliner.
Ultimately, a SpaceX Crew-9 brought her and another stranded astronaut, Butch Wilmore, back to Earth.
She took a copy of the Bhagavad Gita to the ISS in 2006 and the Upanishads in 2012.
(IANS)
