Was never 'stranded' on ISS: Sunita Williams

MUMBAI: Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams , who returned to Earth on March 18 this year after an extended nine-month stay at the International Space Station (ISS), denied she and fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore were ever “stranded” up there.

None other than US President Donald Trump had said that the duo was stranded.

In a Nasa podcast recorded Aug 5 and posted on the agency website on Saturday, Williams also joked about holding the "world record for peeing in 10 different spacecraft" — including the space shuttle, two Soyuz spacecraft, the Boeing Starliner and SpaceX’s Dragon.

While at the ISS, Williams said she and Wilmore had faith in the system and were confident about returning, not once feeling abandoned.

“No, we weren’t stranded... It wasn’t like people forgot about us at all...” she said, attributing the duo’s safe homecoming to several people working diligently on the ground, “trying to understand the problem... and give us seats in the meantime... and figure out the final solution to get us back”.

Speaking about the future scenario, Williams said Nasa was focused on going back to the moon. “Part of going to the moon is vertical landing, and you want to control it... We are bringing in helicopters here at Johnson Space Centre for this vertical perception landing training,” she said, confirming her involvement in the project.