Anand Mahindra Relief at Sunita Williams' Safe Return

New Delhi, Mar 19 (PTI) Industrialist Anand Mahindra on Wednesday said it was an "enormous relief" to see Sunita Williams land back safely on earth while recalling a chance meeting with the American astronaut in Washington two years ago.

"When the SpaceX rescue mission was launched, I recalled this chance encounter almost two years ago with @Astro_Suni in Washington," Mahindra posted on X.

It was an enormous relief to see her and her colleagues' successful splashdown back on earth a few hours ago, he added.

"She is courage personified and it's good to have her back amongst us...Swagatam, Sunita..." Mahindra wrote.

The Mahindra group chairman also tagged his earlier post of June 25, 2023 with a picture of himself, Mukesh Ambani and Vrinda Kapoor with Williams.

"I suppose this was what they would call a 'Washington moment.' After the tech handshake meeting yesterday, Mukesh Ambani, Vrinda Kapoor & I were continuing a conversation with the Secretary of Commerce & missed the group shuttle bus to the next lunch engagement," he had posted at that time.

"We were trying to call an Uber when we ran into NASA astronaut Sunita Williams @Astro_Suni Time for a selfie & we also asked if we could hitch a ride on her space shuttle instead of an Uber.." he wrote on X.

NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams returned to earth on Tuesday after nine months' stay in the space station.

Their eight-day journey in the space stretched to nine months due to some glitch in their Boeing space craft.

A former US Navy captain, Williams, 59, was born to a Gujarati father, Deepak Pandya, hailing from Jhulasan in Mehsana district, and Slovenian mother, Ursuline Bonnie Pandya, on September 19, 1965 in Euclid, Ohio.