American astronauts Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore have been stranded in space for 107 days, with their earliest return to Earth expected in February. In Williams’ ancestral village in India, residents have been offering prayers for her safe return, reports BBC Gujarati’s Roxy Gagdekar Chhara.
The villagers of Jhulasan, located in Gujarat, take great pride in their connection to Williams, whose father and grandparents once lived there. The astronaut has visited the village three times—1972, 2007, and 2013—following successful space missions.
Williams, 58, and Wilmore, 61, embarked on what was meant to be an eight-day mission on June 5. However, issues with their Boeing Starliner spacecraft left them stranded aboard the International Space Station (ISS). They are now scheduled to return to Earth in February 2025 via SpaceX.
In Jhulasan, locals hold daily prayer sessions for Williams’ safety, keeping an oil lamp burning as a symbol of hope. In celebration of her 59th birthday, the village has organized a space-themed exhibition, in hopes that she will visit again after another successful mission.
Jhulasan, a village of 7,000, is rich with memories of Williams’ family. Her father’s ancestral home and a library named after her grandparents still stand, though both are in poor condition. Deepak Pandya, Williams’ father and a neuroscientist, passed away in 2020.
During one of her visits, Williams donated funds to a local school, which now displays a picture of her grandparents in the prayer hall. In 2007, when she was honored at the school, her relative Kishore Pandya fondly recalls meeting her, introducing himself as her brother in broken English, to which Williams warmly responded, “Oh! My brother!”
Deepak Pandya left Jhulasan in 1957 to pursue higher studies in the U.S., where he met and married Ursuline Bonnie. They had Williams in 1965. The family first visited the village in 1972, receiving a grand welcome that included a procession around the village.
Bharat Gajjar, now 68, remembers the occasion vividly, recalling a young Sunita and her family riding camels through the village.
Among those offering daily prayers for Williams’ safe return is Madhu Patel, who expressed the village’s pride in her accomplishments. “NASA and the government should do everything in their power to bring our daughter back safely,” she said.
As they await her return, Williams continues to inspire many. Manthan Leuva, a student preparing for banking exams, finds her words particularly motivating. “She once said, ‘love what you do, and you will succeed.’ That thought really inspires me,” he shared.
