STS-116

STS-116, the next Space Shuttle mission on the shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch on December 7, 2006. What makes this launch special is Sunita Williams, Flight Engineer on the mission. Yet another Person of Indian Origin to be proud of.

Kalpana Chawla made Indians proud as being the first Indian woman in space. Her last shuttle mission, however, ended in a tragedy. Women of Indian origin whether born in or out of India are clearly doing a great job.
In addition to being on the Space Shuttle Mission STS-116 Sunita Williams will join Expedition 14 (already in progress) on the International Space Station. So she will soon be first person of Indian origin to actually live in Space.

Sunita William's Bio:

This is what she will be eating during the mission:

And here is an interview:

Now, this leads me to a different debate altogether... I wonder whether India stands to gain by collaborating with the US in these space missions. India's first astronaut went to space with the help of the soviets. Should we try to send another via the US shuttle missions? Is there any value to such a collaboration?