A 2013 video of US astronaut Sunita Williams at a press conference talking about her Indian heritage, taking a Ganesha idol, Bhagavad Gita with her on space missions, is viral linking it to her recent return to Earth after nine months on the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Williams and Butch Wilmore as part of the Crew-9 mission returned to Earth on March 18, 2025, aboard SpaceX's Dragon Freedom. Initially an eight-day mission, the Boeing Starliner capsule being used by the astronaut developed problems, ballooning the mission to nine months.
In the 40 second video, Williams can be seen addressing a press conference, with many logos of Indian news channels visible, as, "I really appreciate my Indian heritage and was glad I could bring part of it with me to space. Ganesh has always been in my house, everywhere I have lived, I had Ganesh and so he had to come with me to space and Indian food, you can never get enough of Indian food. I always make sure I have samosas in space with me. Bhagawad Gita, this last time I brought a small copy interpretation of Upanishad with me. I also brought along the Bhagavad Gita, the Odyssey and I thought that was also quite appropriate to be in space and have those types of things to reflect and read."
The video is being shared with a misleading claim that it is a press conference held after her recent return to space from her mission with the caption, "Sunita Williams credits Bhagwad Gita & Upanishads for her safe return. She stayed in space for 9 months"
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FACT-CHECK
BOOM found that the viral video is from April 2013 when astronaut Sunita Williams visited India and spoke at the National Science Centre in Delhi.
Taking a hint from the viral video and the logos of Indian news channels visible on the microphones kept on the table, we ran a specific keyword search and found multiple reports about the same from 2013.
We found an NDTV news report from April 13, 2013 uploaded on YouTube with the headline, "I had samosas in space with me, says astronaut Sunita Williams"
The same sequence of events in the viral video can be seen in this press conference below. The viral video has cropped the section from 39 seconds timestamp of the original video seen below:
Sunita Williams' father, Deepak Pandya, was raised in Gujarat, and her mother, Ursuline Bonnie Zalokar, is Slovenian-American. Williams has been on three journeys to space, including Expeditions 14/15 in 2006, Expeditions 32/33 in 2012, and the recent mission for which she left in June 2024.
Following their return, Williams with other crew members is undergoing a 45-day intense rehabilitation programme to help recondition themselves to Earth's gravity. According to a report in the Indian Express, the Astronaut Strength, Conditioning and Rehabilitation (ASCR) is in charge of the physical therapy and training of the astronauts.
The therapy is to continue for six weeks. Williams is yet to make a statement about her return and has not yet held a press conference.