TNI Bureau: NASA astronaut Sunita Williams took over the command of Expedition 33 at the International Space Station, becoming the second woman in the history of space research as flight engineer.
She took over the charge from Commander Gennady Padalka after the three-member crew of Russian-made Soyuz capsule returned safely to earth. The Indian-American Williams will share the space station with Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide till three more astronauts, including NASA astronaut Kevin Ford join the crew of Expedition 33 in mid-October.
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The space craft carrying Flight Engineer Joe Acaba of NASA, Padalka and Flight Engineer Sergei Revin of the Russian Federal Space Agency, landed at north of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan today morning after spending 123 days at the space station. The space craft separated from the space station yesterday.
Williams conveyed her thanks to her crew mates for teaching how to live, work and having a lot of fun in space. Three crew members have orbited earth 2,000 times and traveled 52,906,428 miles.