Information about space mission undertaken by sunita williams

Sunita Williams, a native of Needham, has traveled far beyond Massachusetts as part of her work as an astronaut at the International Space Station. She served as the commander of the space station in 2012, and has spent a total 322 days in space. She also has spent more than 50 hours on space walks alone.

In this 2004 photo provided by NASA, astronaut Sunita Williams poses for a photo. (NASA via AP)

She is featured in the new documentary film "The Mars Generation," which looks at a new generation of teenagers who are preparing to go to Mars in this century.

"The Mars Generation" is playing at theWoods Hole Film Festival on Sunday at 5 p.m. Williams will also be speaking on a panel about science and storytelling on Sunday at 2 p.m. 

Guests

Sunita Williams, American astronaut and former commander of the International Space Station. She tweets @Astro_Suni.

Interview Highlights

On her path to becoming an astronaut
It was a little bit of a happenstance, and a lot of good luck, and a lot of perseverance. I wanted to be a veterinarian, and go to school in Boston. It didn't quite work out that way, and I ended up joining the Navy as a suggestion of my big brother. It was really awesome, and I didn't realize it at the time, but provided a lot of leadership and followership teamwork opportunities. And it led me down the path to become a helicopter pilot and a test pilot. It was the shoe in the door to making me understand that, hey — things are possible. And I got down to NASA at Johnson Space Center and realized that I could do the things those guys were doing, like anybody can when they have that opportunity and take it.

On her time as a commander on the International Space Station
It was awesome. A huge responsibility. But just like in the movie "The Martian," you take it one step at a time. You don't look at the big problem all together, because I think it's a little intimidating. So you just take it one day at a time, meet the people who are going to meet with you, for you, and who you're going to work for, and really try to do the best job that you can. That's all teamwork, and that's what space travel is about.

On what it's like to do a spacewalk
It's a little scary at times, when it's just your visor between you and the outside, not-so-nice area of space where there's no air to breathe — a vacuum that's really hot, and really cold. So that's scary. But you take it one step at a time. You have a lot of things to do when you're out on a space walk, and that sort of overwhelms your mind. You're like, "I've got to get this test done, and this test done." But you can't help every now and then stopping, and looking at where you are, and watching the world whiz by you — and just going, "Whoah! But — never mind — just keep working, just keep working." It is an incredible view, an incredible place to work, and it's the culmination of a huge team of people making it work for the astronauts who are just out there doing their jobs.

On what her time in space has taught her about the challenges facing potential Mars astronauts
You are away from home, and you do miss your family and your friends, and of course I missed my dog. But you have the ability to call home, and the ability to video conference on the weekends. We're close to Earth, and we only have about a half-second of delay when we're talking. But when you take that trip and are going to Mars, you're going to have a long delay. You're not going to be able to have those instant conversations. You're going to need to know how to fix things without calling home to ask how to do it. So there's going to be a lot of different challenges for that crew, and that crew needs to know that they'll be gone for a long time. I knew I would be gone for 6 months, and maybe a little bit more. [People going to Mars] need to go into this knowing that you might be gone for a year and a half or so. You're not going to be able to text to your friends and family like people are used to doing here. It's going to take a little while to get that communication back and forth.