Williams, 41, is also set to break astronaut Shannon Lucid's record for the longest stay in space ever by a woman -- 188 days and 4 hours -- on June 16, three days before Atlantis brings her back to Earth.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday laid a wreath at the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers and paid homage to Indian-American astronaut late Kalpana Chawla at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington.
NASA officials are now looking at ways to make her stay in space easier, given the additional physical and psychological pressures.
This spacewalk marked the 80th EVA dedicated to the ISS assembly or maintenance, and push total spacewalking time outside the orbital laboratory past the 490-hour mark at full duration.
The first of a record four spacewalks planned during the next month is scheduled to begin 0900 hours CST (2030 hours IST) on Wednesday.
Williams said Gandhiji had always preached for peace and non-violence and she was proud to be part of a peaceful scientific space project.
The airlock at the lower pressure protects against decompression sickness, commonly called "the bends," as the two go to the even lower pressure of spacesuits on Tuesday.
Despite doubts about the take-off due to poor weather forecast and a two-hour delay before tanking operations, Discovery and its crew of seven lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Houston at 7:17 am IST.
Deepak and Bonnie Pandya, Sunita Williams' parents, are both excited and proud that their daughter, the youngest of their three children, is finally going to realise her dream.
Williams is the second American woman astronaut with Indian roots, after the late Kalpana Chawla, to be selected for a space mission by NASA.
The day she returns is being christened Sunita Williams Day at NASA.
Sunita, 41, an accomplished marathoner, will be running as fast as eight mph during the 42.16 kilometres simulated run, restrained to the treadmill in a harness so she wouldn't float away.
Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams, who plans to run the 26.2 mile Boston Marathon on board the International Space Station on April 16, finds it a challenging exercise.
41-year-old Sunita, who became the second woman of Indian descent to venture into space after Kalpan Chawla, said she was all "excited" to go out and check the planet.
Trained to remain aboard the space station until July, Williams will also join space station commander Mike Lopez-Alegria for three spacewalks early in 2007.
On Sunday morning Eastern US time, four astronauts will zoom into space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. Commanding the spaceflight is Raja Chari, a United States Air Force colonel.
What the Indian economy looks like next January will influence her view on India, not her genetics, notes Shekhar Gupta.
'When the Americans are talking about colonising Mars by 2030, India cannot be lagging behind.'
While working with Air India, she has also earned a degree in BSc Aviation, done a course in classical key-board, learnt various forms of modern dance and become a lawyer. Anjuli Bhargava profiles the super-achiever.
Ayesha Aziz has always aimed for the sky.
The remarkable story of Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian in space, will be seen in a film featuring Aamir Khan.
The India Abroad Person of the Year Awards, held at the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City on Friday June 12, honored 14 achievers in seven categories.
Raja Chari is in training to go to space in 2019. Vaihayasi Pande Daniel presents the story of his journey from Cedar Falls, Iowa, to NASA. A Rediff.com Exclusive!
'So what if the enemies take us as prisoners of war? So what of they kill us? I would feel proud that I could sacrifice my life for the country,' say these proud lady officers of the Indian Navy.
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