New Delhi: Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams is all set to sprint in space. Williams will run the Boston Marathon next month, miles above the earth's surface.
The astronaut will run the equivalent distance on a treadmill, tethered by bungee cords, in the international space station, 338 kms above Earth.
This will be another first in the space history for an astronaut.
Williams, who qualified for the Boston race by finishing the Houston Marathon last year in three hours, 29 minutes and 57 seconds, will run the race on a station treadmill, circling Earth at least twice in the process, running as fast about 13 km per hour but flying more than eight km each second, NASA said.
Williams hopes her unique run in April will serve as an inspiration.
"I encourage kids to start making physical fitness part of their daily lives. I think a big goal like a marathon will help get this message out there,” Williams said.
Williams won't be the only one from her family in this unique adventure. Her sister Dina Pandya and a fellow NASA astronaut, Karen Nyberg, will run the race in Boston.
Williams and Nyberg qualified for the Boston race by finishing among the top 100 females in the Houston Marathon.
For months, Sunita has been training for the marathon while aboard the station. She runs at least four times a week, two longer runs and two shorter runs.
Station crews are required to exercise on the treadmill, a stationary bike and a resistive exercise machine to counter loss of bone density and muscle mass.
Due to the crew's sleep schedule, Sunita's run of the marathon on the station may not coincide exactly with the race on the ground, but mission control is working to match the events as closely as possible.
(With PTI inputs)
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