After Kalpana, NASA picks Sunita

Three years after Chawala's tragic odyssey, another woman of Indian origin will go to space in September.

Three years after Kalpana Chawala's tragic odyssey stirred the world, another woman of Indian origin is set to go to space. Astronaut Sunita Williams nee Pandya is to be one of the replacement crew for the international space station, NASA announced on Wednesday.

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Sunita's maiden big leap will come in September, capping the prospects which began in 2003 when she was selected by NASA as a probable backup crew member for one of its space missions to the space station orbiting about 240 miles above Earth.

Born in Ohio to Dr Deepak and Bonnie Pandya, forty-one years old Sunita is married to Michael Williams.