NASA astronaut Sunita Williams has once again expressed her deep admiration for India, describing the country as “amazing” when viewed from space. Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Williams shared her awe-inspiring experience of seeing India from the International Space Station (ISS), recalling breathtaking views of the Himalayas, the vibrant coastline and the web of city lights stretching across the subcontinent.

“India is amazing,” Williams said. “Every time we went over the Himalayas, and I’ll tell you, Butch got some incredible pictures. Just amazing.” The 59-year-old astronaut, along with fellow NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore, was addressing the media in their first joint press conference since returning to Earth as part of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission. The duo had been in space for an extended period of over nine months before safely making it back.

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Williams, whose father hails from India, vividly described the view of the country from orbit. “When you come from the east, going into Gujarat and Mumbai, the fishing fleet off the coast gives you a little beacon that here we come,” she explained. “And all throughout India, it’s just like this network of lights from bigger cities flowing into smaller cities. Just incredible to look at at night as well as during the day.”

Her comments come as excitement builds for the upcoming Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), which will include Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla as the mission pilot. Williams expressed enthusiasm for India’s growing role in space exploration and hinted at her own plans to visit the country soon.

“I hope, and I think for sure, I’m gonna be going back to my father’s home country,” she said. “I look forward to visiting with people and sharing the excitement about India’s presence in space,” Williams added.

Lucknow-born Shukla will be India’s second astronaut after former Indian Air Force officer Rakesh Sharma to go to space since 1984.

“They’ll have a hometown hero there of their own that will be able to talk about how wonderful the International Space Station is from his perspective. But I hope I can meet up at some point in time, and we can share our experiences with as many people in India as possible, because it’s a great country, another wonderful democracy that’s trying to put its foot in the space countries, and we’d love to be part of that and help them along,” she said.

Sunita’s father Deepak Pandya hailed from Gujarat and came to the US in 1958 where he did his internship and residency training in Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio.

She was born in Ohio to Deepak and Ursuline Bonnie Pandya.

When Wilmore asked Sunita if she plans to take her crew members on the trip to India with her, she replied with a laugh “Absolutely. You might stick out a little bit but that’s okay. We’ll get you all primed with some spicy food, will be good.”

(With inputs from PTI)