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\h        Music.

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\h        SUNITA WILLIAMS: Hi. My name is Sunita Williams. I'm a NASA astronaut.

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\h        QUESTION: What did you enjoy about your space flight?

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\h        WILLIAMS: It was an amazing experience for me. It was a long time.

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\h        I joined the astronaut corps in 1998,

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\h        so it was about eight years before I had the opportunity to go into space.

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\h         But as soon as I got, as soon as we all got there on STS-116

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\h        and were able to just look out the window, see the space station for the first time,

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\h        those gold solar panels as we were approaching it,

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\h        I was beside myself with how wonderful just the view was,

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\h        not to mention I had the opportunity to do a couple spacewalks while I was up there,

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\h        and just having that visor between you and the outside of space was just incredible,

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\h        and to look and see Northern Lights,

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\h        as well as our beautiful planet out into space was just amazing. Just incredible.

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\h        QUESTION: What was life like aboard the International Space Station?

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\h        WILLIAMS: So you can fly from one end of the lab right through the

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\h        Node and into the Russian segment through the PMA, and that's just a lot of fun.

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\h        There's always a constant humming of the pumps in the

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\h        background and the fans in the ventilations system,

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\h        so you're always hearing a little buzz. But if you want some quiet,

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\h        you can go into the quiet of the Kyuta.

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\h        I think the best memory that I have from living on the ISS

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\h        is the camaraderie of the crewmates up there.

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\h        Every evening,we would get together and have dinner around the table in the service module

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\h        and just share stories with each other about the day.

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\h        Sometimes we'd discuss language and the idiosyncrasies of the different languages,

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\h        and it was just always fun just to reflect and realize where we were.

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\h        QUESTION: Tell us about your dog Gorby and his sudden fame.

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\h        WILLIAMS: Gorby is my Jack Russell terrier and I got him in 2001.Gorby's my little buddy.

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\h        Gorby, I spent a lot of time in Russia training for this mission for the

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\h        International Space Station and so of course I got to know a lot about Russia,

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\h        and of course one of the distinguished people of the Russian history is Mikhail Gorbachev.

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\h        I heard about, I heard about Gorby sightings.

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\h        Heidi Piper was down on NEEMO underwater and they had a big Gorby magnet there,

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\h        and then one of the gentlemen from the press had written me an e-mail and said,

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\h        “Hey, we have Flat Gorby sightings all over the world.”

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\h        He was in Japan, he was in Russia, so he was all over the place,

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\h        and it was really nice. It was uplifting.

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\h        It made me laugh every time I got an e-mail from them.

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\h        QUESTION: How did you adjust to weightlessness?

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\h        WILLIAMS: I would say the transition to microgravity was a little bit easier.

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\h        It took me just about 24 hours and then I felt like I was used to it, and then I loved it.

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\h        A little clumsy, but I got used to being able to fly around pretty quickly thereafter.

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\h        Coming back to Earth, it probably took a couple days just for the neurovestibular effects

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\h        to start to wear off. Sort of went off like a light switch with me,

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\h        but it's a little bit different for everybody. But I can still feel

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\h        I'm a little bit slower in running than I was before I left,

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\h        but I heard it's usually a day for day, so it will probably take

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\h        me about six months to get back to where I was before I left.

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\h        QUESTION: Do you see life on Earth differently now?

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\h        WILLIAMS: Definitely see things on Earth a lot different than before I went.

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\h        When we were up there, we had the distinct pleasure of being able to look out the window

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\h        and see our beautiful planet and see continents, and no borders for countries,

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\h        and I think that was a huge impression. You look down at the

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\h        planet Earth and it's hard to imagine two people even arguing,

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\h        never mind fighting down there, because it all looks like one,

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\h        that we live on these wonderful continents together.

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\h        The second impression I got was looking out the side window at how thin our little

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\h        atmosphere is that protects us from all the dangers of living in

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\h        space, of vacuum and heat and cold, and we can't take any of that for granted.

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\h        QUESTION: Who inspired you?

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\h        WILLIAMS: Well, I think my parents were a huge inspiration to me. Both of them had

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\h        came from not-so-well-to-do families and made it on their own,

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\h        and both of them have a huge “can-do” spirit, and influenced me

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\h        to take chances and do as well as I can.

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\h        John Young was a huge inspiration for me to even apply to the astronaut corps when my

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\h        test pilot school class met him when we came to visit to Johnson Space Center.

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\h        QUESTION: With space flight behind you, what would you like to do next?

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\h        WILLIAMS: I'd love to go back to space.

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\h        I'd love to go to the space station again as the commander of the space station.