‘Swagatam, Sunita…’: Anand Mahindra recalls past encounter with Sunita Williams as he hails her safe return from space

Mahindra Group Chairman Anand Mahindra, in his latest social media post, has praised NASA astronaut Sunita Williams for her courage, saying that it was an "enormous relief" to see her and her colleagues’ successful splashdown back on earth.

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore returned to Earth after nearly nine months aboard the International Space Station (ISS). They, along with NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov, were part of the SpaceX Crew-9 mission.

The tycoon expressed his joy on the astronaut's safe return. He recalled his encounter with the astronaut around two years ago. "When the SpaceX rescue mission was launched, I recalled this chance encounter almost two years ago with @Astro_Suni in Washington. It was an enormous relief to see her and her colleagues’ successful splashdown back on earth a few hours ago," Mahindra. Wrote on X.

Mahindra said Williams is courage personified and that it’s good to have her back. "Swagatam, Sunita…," he said.

Mahindra's old January 25, 2023, post on X featured a photo of him with Williams, RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani and deep-tech entrepreneur and the CEO of aerospace company 3rdiTech, Vrinda Kapoor.

Calling it a ‘Washington moment', Mahindra had said: "Sharing the old post on X, I suppose this was what they would call a ‘Washington moment.’ After the tech handshake meeting yesterday, Mukesh Ambani, Vrinda Kapoor & I were continuing a conversation with the Secretary of Commerce & missed the group shuttle bus to the next lunch engagement. We were trying to call an Uber when we ran into NASA astronaut Sunita Williams @Astro_Suni Time for a selfie & we also asked if we could hitch a ride on her space shuttle instead of an Uber…"

At 1:05 a.m. EDT (10:35 AM) Tuesday, NASA astronauts Nick Hague, Suni Williams, and Butch Wilmore, along with Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov undocked from the space-facing port of International Space Station’s Harmony module aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The splashdown took 17 hours.

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft successfully splashed down off the coast of Florida at 5:57 PM EDT (3:27 AM IST). Williams and Wilmore waved and smiled as they emerged from the capsule, which was briefly inspected by a pod of dolphins as it bobbed in the ocean, awaiting retrieval by the rescue ship. During their time aboard the ISS, the duo conducted 150 experiments and logged 900 hours of research.

Williams and Wilmore were initially set for an eight-day mission aboard the Boeing Starliner in June 2024. However, technical issues forced their spacecraft to return without them, extending their stay unexpectedly.

Williams, born in Ohio, has a paternal side based out of Jhulasan, Gujarat and a maternal side of Slovene descent.