Mehsana: Residents of NASA astronaut Sunita Willaims’ ancestral village in Gujarat’s Mehsana district burst into celebrations on Wednesday morning as a SpaceX capsule carrying her and her colleague Butch Wilmore splashed down off the Florida coast.
All eyes were on Willaims’s safe return as those in Jhulasan gathered at a village temple to view the event live on a television screen. As soon as she landed, residents celebrated the moment by bursting firecrackers, dancing and chanting ‘Har Har Mahadev’.
Williams has been in the thoughts and prayers of the villagers, who were eagerly awaiting her safe return.
The celebrations began after the successful splashdown of the Dragon spacecraft, which brought Sunita Williams back to Earth along with Crew-9 members Butch Wilmore, Nick Hague, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov.
Visuals posted by news agency ANI showed people celebrating and bursting firecrackers in Jhulasan in Mehsana district after the successful Splashdown of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sunita Williams’ cousin Dinesh Rawal organised a ‘Yagna’ in Ahmedabad to pray for her safe return.
SpaceX confirmed the splashdown, and NASA astronaut Nick Hague shared that the crew was “grinning ear to ear” after their safe return.
The SpaceX Crew Dragon spaceship streaked through the atmosphere before deploying parachutes for a gentle splashdown off the Florida coast at 5:57 pm (3.27am IST).
Ground teams erupted in cheers as the gumdrop-shaped spacecraft named Freedom, charred from withstanding scorching temperatures of 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (2,000 degrees Celsius) during re-entry, bobbed steadily on the waves beneath a clear, sunny sky.
“What a ride — I see a capsule full of grins,” said Hague.
As fast boats raced to the capsule for initial safety checks – an unlikely escort arrived in the form of a playful pod of dolphins.
