Needham astronaut Suni Williams spoke to 7NEWS as her extended stay in space comes to an end.
In her final interview before heading home, she said she is definitely looking forward to coming back to Massachusetts.
“I’ll be visiting a lot of places in Boston, eating a lot of good food, and seeing a lot of great old friends,” Williams said.
She has been floating in zero gravity at the International Space Station for months and is excited to get home.
“The North End, of course, in Boston is just ridiculous. But for Needham, what I think of when I think about Needham is that intersection where the high school is and the library, going down Rosemary. I love that area, I love jogging up that hill, and of course, I can’t help but mention the elementary school,” Williams said.
What was supposed to be a short mission turned into a nearly 10-month mission.
Williams and her crewmate Butch Wilmore credited the success of their time in space to the teamwork of their entire crew.
“It’s not just us and Suni and Nick and Don, it’s the team on the ground. We don’t do anything without the team working together for the common good and the goals that we’ve established, that our nation has established that we would do here,” Wilmore said.
“Without the team, it doesn’t happen. Without the ground, it doesn’t happen. Without the individuals day in and day out who are passionate about human space flight and what they do day in and day out, it doesn’t happen. That’s really the key and the message that we really, really would like to get out and share,” he continued.
Williams completed the Falmouth Road Race from the International Space Station. She also took part in her ninth spacewalk, which set a new record for women.
She said she’s proud of this extended mission.
“It’s just incredible the things that we’re doing that are helping us in exploration and helping us back on Earth,” Williams said.
But it’s not all work up at the space station — the astronauts showed off some of the fun they have.
“One of the fun things to do is grab a crewmate, whether they are willing or not, and then just start spinning them as fast as you can,” said crewmate Nick Hague.
It turns out it’s pretty hard to get dizzy in space.
“I try to spin myself up to get that nerve vestibular excited for that return to Earth, but it’s really hard to do. That didn’t spin me up at all,” Wilmore said.
7NEWS couldn’t resist asking Williams about her gravity defying locks that recently captured the attention of the president.
“I see the woman with the wild hair, a good solid head of hair she’s got. There’s no kidding, there’s no games with her hair,” President Donald Trump said recently.
Williams gave her head a little shake to show her hair’s movement in zero gravity.
“Honestly, it’s just fun, my compadres here don’t have the long hair, so I get to sport it a little bit. It doesn’t do this on Earth so it’s a fun thing to show off a little bit. I appreciate his acknowledgment of my ‘wild’ hair,” she said.
The SpaceX rocket, which is set to bring Williams and Wilmore home, is set to launch Wednesday. If all goes as planned, the pair should be back home in late March.
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