Dr Deepak Pandya spent Thursday ensconced in front of the TV set in his Falmouth (Massachusetts) home anxiously awaiting news of his daughter's return to Earth.

Poor weather conditions forced NASA to postpone the return of Space Shuttle Atlantis on Thursday afternoon, but the shuttle will make another attempt to land on Friday. Dr Pandya's daughter Sunita Williams is part of the shuttle's seven-member crew.

“I just want her to come home safely,” Dr Pandya told The Tribune in a telephone interview as updates on the shuttle's progress poured in on NASA TV in the background.

Williams, who spent more than six months on the International Space Station, broke a record for the longest time served by a woman in space. She arrived at the station in December and has since surpassed Shannon Lucid's record of 188 days, 4 hours set in 1996.

Although this was her first spaceflight, Williams also became the record-holder for most hours outside a spacecraft by a female by completing four space walks with a total time of 29 hours, 17 minutes.

Dr Pandya is, understandably, a proud father. “She has done a marvelous thing,” he said, adding, “But she is ready to come home. We miss her and want her back, and we know everyone in India is watching too.”

Friday's weather forecast for Kennedy Space Center on Florida's coast indicates the possibility of thunderstorms in the area and high winds are a possibility at Edwards Air Force Base in California as well, an alternative landing site for the shuttle. Landing opportunities are also available on Saturday; however, the shuttle will be running low on fuel and supplies by the weekend.

Dr Pandya described his daughter as “well motivated, hardworking and down-to-earth.” An avid sportswoman, she would swim four hours a day, and even qualified for the grueling Boston marathon, which she ran from space while hooked up to a treadmill on the International Space Station.

Williams, whose mother is from Slovenia, has strong ties to her Indian culture, said her father, who emigrated from India over four decades ago.

She was friends with Kalpana Chawla, the astronaut from Karnal who was killed along with six other crewmembers when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated on re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere in 2003.

Dr Pandya said his family had “a few apprehensions” after the Columbia tragedy, but “these are important missions to expand our horizons” and “Suni” wanted to be part of it.

“Suni learned many things from Kalpana Chawla,” said Dr Pandya, adding his daughter also went to visit Chawla's home in India.

Williams took a copy of the Bhagvad Gita and a statue of the Ganesha with her to the space. “I gave her the Gita... it’s something she was very interested in reading,” Dr Pandya said.

The Pandyas miss their daughter immensely but know she has an important mission to complete. Before she heads home in Houston, Williams will undergo a debriefing on her return to Florida. Her husband, Michael Williams, a federal marshal based in Washington, is awaiting her arrival in Houston, while her mother Bonnie, sister Dina and beloved pet Jack Russell Terrier ‘Gorby’, named after former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, were on their way to join Mr Williams.

Washington, June 22
The Indian Navy today commissioned INS Jalashwa, a landing platform dock, at an impressive ceremony at Norfolk in Virginia with Indian ambassador Ronen Sen doing the honours.

The ship is the first of its class to be inducted into the Indian Navy and is acquired from the United States, in the process marking an important milestone in the Indo-US relationship.

With the induction of INS Jalashwa, formerly known as USS Trenton, India joins the select group of nations operating a landing platform dock, giving the Navy enhanced capability to move troops and equipment to greater distances in furthering the country's maritime interests.

The Cabinet Committee on Security approved the acquisition on July 31 last year following which the Indian Navy deputed some 330 personnel to the US in October. Indian Naval personnel sailed with their US naval counterparts on USS Trenton for training in November and December, 2006.

The INS Jalashwa is said to represent a quantum jump in the Navy's integral sealift and airlift capabilities as it provides a platform to influence events on land from the sea and has the ability to transport and launch a large numbers of combat or relief forces complete with their equipment.

The Jalashwa is 173-m long and 32-m wide. With gross tonnage of 16,900 tonnes, it is the Indian Navy's second largest combat platform after the aircraft carrier Viraat.

The ship has a unique capability to flood a part of her internal space by using her tanks. The flooded internal space, called the well deck, provides a haven for assault crafts to embark and disembark troops and cargo inside the ship.

The ship, it is pointed out in a media release, can carry 968 fully-equipped troops and over 130 different types of vehicles. Six UH-3H utility helicopters and four landing craft mechanised (LCM) have also been acquired from the US Navy and will be deployed from INS Jalashwa. The aircraft and LCMs are deployed to achieve the ship-to-shore transfer. — PTI 

Islamabad, June 22
Satellite images show that Pakistan is building a new nuclear reactor which can produce weapons-grade plutonium, an American watchdog group said yesterday, warning that it could contribute to an atomic arms race with archrival India.

A picture taken on June 3 shows work progressing rapidly on the reactor at the Khushab nuclear site, 170 km southwest of Islamabad, the institute of science for international security said.

A senior official at the Pakistan Atomic Energy Authority said the country was "extending our infrastructure," but declined to address the details of the report.

Pakistan has stated repeatedly that it will develop its secretive nuclear programme and maintain an atomic arsenal to deter India, its more powerful neighbour, despite past leaks of sensitive technology to countries, including Iran.

The report, co-authored by former UN inspector David Albright, said Pakistan may have decided to produce more plutonium for lighter warheads for cruise missiles, or to upgrade weapons aimed at Indian cities.

Albright said the work on the reactor showed that the country was trying to improve its nuclear capabilities with a "new generation" of plutonium-based weapons.

"The work on these reactors reflects a Pakistani decision to create a new generation of nuclear weapons. By going plutonium ... we have to interpret that as an attempt to make smaller, more powerful weapons that are going to be more destructive in India," Albright said in a telephone interview. — AP