During the Mumbai leg of her India visit, Williams shared her experience of completing a marathon and a triathlon in the space during an interactive session with the media at the Nehru Science Centre.
US astronaut Sunita Williams has made walking in the space a thing of the past after she became the first person to have completed a triathlon in outer space in September 2012.
Williams participated in running, biking, and "swimming" along with athletes back on Earth, who were participating in the Nautica Malibu Triathlon in Southern California, and crossed the orbital finish line with a time of 1:48:33.
Williams (47), who holds the world record for the most spacewalk time — 50 hours 40 minutes — by a female astronaut, is in India on a week-long trip.
During the Mumbai leg of her India visit, Williams shared her experience of completing a marathon and a triathlon in the space during an interactive session with the media at the Nehru Science Centre.
When DNA asked her how did she manage to complete a marathon and triathlon in space, Williams said, "It is really funny to think of running a marathon in space. There are treadmills in the space shuttle. When one needs to run, a harness is tied to the shoulder and waist to pull one down, exerting gravitational force on the hip bones. Once that is done, one can feel the heart pounding when they run. When I completed the marathon, I was happy to be done with that and vowed never to set foot on the treadmill again!"
However, the triathlon came along and when American neurosurgeon, Dr Sanjay Gupta, requested her to do it in space, she rose to the challenge.
"For the cycling part of the triathlon, the pedals of the bike in the shuttle are clipped to the feet and the bike is programmed to suit the route on the earth. The route I remember was filled with hills, I hated it.
For the swimming portion, Williams used the advanced resistance device where she used to do squats and 15 different exercises for 15-20 minutes to exert the same stress on the muscles as swimming would normally do.
Williams had previously run the Boston Marathon during her last stint on the space station in 2007.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}