New Delhi: Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams has set a new record for the longest uninterrupted space flight by a woman.
Williams, surpassed the 188-day, four-hour mark set by her compatriot Shannon Lucid in 1996. It was not the first record set by Williams, who began her space journey last December 10.
Earlier this year, she logged 29 hours and 17 minutes in four space walks, eclipsing the record held by astronaut Kathryn Thornton for most spacewalk time by a woman.
Last April, she became the first astronaut to run a marathon in orbit. Meanwhile, the computers at the space shuttle Atlantis are up and running and the shuttle is now scheduled to return to Earth on June 21.
On Friday, astronauts also fixed a tear in the shuttle's heat shield and repaired two main computers at the International Space Station after an unprecedented systems breakdown that lasted 48 hours.
According to NASA spokeswoman Brandy Dean, "The experts got the computers running around 0030 IST." The technical teams were monitoring the system to see how it reacted to the adjustments. "For now it's working," she said. "This is good news.
It's very encouraging."
Astronauts used a jumper cable to bypass a faulty power switch, NASA said on its website.
The computers will run overnight for testing in the morning. Russian flight controllers blamed the glitch on installation of the ISS' new solar panels, but the head of the Russian space operator RKK Energia said he did not blame the visiting crew for the problem.
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