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Sunita Williams speaks from space

April 03, 2007


NASA astronaut Sunita Williams was conferred the India Abroad Publisher's Award for Excellence for 2006 in New York City on March 23.

Person of the Year 2006

It was tough for Suni -- as she is known -- to be there in person to accept her trophy from Publisher Ajit Balakrishnan considering that she is floating 250 miles above us in the International Space Station.

But Suni wanted to be part of the proceedings nevertheless.

So many weeks before the event, with the enthusiasm that she does most things -- like run the Boston marathon barefoot or switch from being a helicopter pilot to an astronaut in five years flat -- she started preparing to shoot an acceptance speech from space.

There were many backs and forths on e-mail between rediff India Abroad and the ever helpful Kelly Curtis at NASA. The first attempt did not work out and just a few days before the event Suni was going to make another attempt. Fingers were crossed. It was successful!

On the Person of the Year 2006 night Sunita had the audience at the Ballroom of Roosevelt Hotel floored with her special acceptance speech.

We share her audio-visual with you. Come, click.

This is an exclusive video filmed in space for rediff India Abroad courtesy NASA.

Also see: When one world to conquer isn't enough

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