New York: Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams was honoured as the Grand Marshal of the Veterans Day Parade, which pays tribute to former military personnel. The celebrated spacefarer and retired Navy captain led a massive procession of 20,000 participants along Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue on Wednesday.
Reflecting on her role, Williams described it as “an incredible honour”, adding, “My time in the Navy shaped who I am and prepared me for every challenge that followed.”
She further said, “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.”
Before joining the space agency, Williams served as a test pilot and subsequently undertook three space missions, spending a cumulative 608 days in orbit. During her career, she set a record for the most spacewalks by a woman, completing nine spacewalks totalling 62 hours.
The 107th annual Veterans Day Parade brought together thousands of former military personnel, along with various armed forces units, municipal law enforcement officers, civic societies, educational institutions and musical brass bands. Commercial enterprises also participated with elaborate floats highlighting former military personnel employed in their workforce.
On the eve of the parade, the decorated captain took part in ceremonial observances aboard the USS San Antonio to mark the 251st anniversary of the founding of the Marine Corps.
Born to Deepak Pandya, a neuroanatomist, and Ursuline Pandya, who is of Slovenian heritage, Williams previously made headlines after what was scheduled to be an eight-day expedition to the orbital laboratory during the first crewed flight of Boeing’s Starliner capsule turned into an extended nine-month mission.
The prolonged stay resulted from persistent technical problems with the spacecraft, eventually requiring a rescue mission by a SpaceX Crew-9 vehicle to bring Williams and fellow stranded astronaut Butch Wilmore back home.
Deeply connected to her cultural roots, Williams famously carried a copy of the Bhagavad Gita into space in 2006, followed by the Upanishads in 2012.
