Ready to conquer space
Bonie Pandya said Williams was on track for her first space flight earlier, but the 2003 Columbia disaster, in which Kalpana Chawla lost her life, delayed the schedule.
"She has been training for several years; she was training every other month in Russia and then coming back to Houston. I know she is just delighted that finally it is materialising," said the proud mother.
Born September 19, 1965 in Euclid, Ohio, Williams received her commission as an Ensign in the United States Navy from the United States Naval Academy after completing her bachelor's in physical science from the Academy in May 1987.
After a six-month temporary assignment at the Naval Coastal System Command, she became a Basic Diving Officer and reported to the Naval Aviation Training Command.
Williams was designated a Naval Aviator in July 1989 and after training was assigned to the Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 8 in Norfolk, Virginia. She was deployed to the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf in support of Desert Shield -- the US deployment in Saudi Arabia in 1990 which later became Desert Storm -- and Operation Provide Comfort, by which the Americans helped Kurds fleeing their homes in northern Iraq during the Gulf War.
In September 1992, she was made the Officer-in-Charge of an H-46 detachment sent to Miami, Florida, for Hurricane Andrew Relief Operations on board the USS Sylvania.
In the picture: Williams (extreme right) with Bollywood actress Sonali Bendre
Photograph: Paresh Gandhi
Also See: Remembering Heroes