UP school girls pray for safe return of Sunita Willaims

As US-based astronaut Sunita Williams gets ready for a comeback after her six-month space voyage, girl students of a Varanasi school on Tuesday conducted a holy fire ritual to wish her good luck.

Varanasi, June 19 : As US-based astronaut Sunita Williams gets ready for a comeback after her six-month space voyage, girl students of a Varanasi school on Tuesday conducted a holy fire ritual to wish her good luck.

Chanting Sanskrit shlokas, they said Williams, who was born in India, inspired them.

"Today, she is returning and we are praying to God that she returns safely. We cannot do anything else but give our good wishes to her," said Shobha Arya, a student.

Atlantis is scheduled to return to Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday.

Tension had griped many a fortnight ago when the NASA reported a bump in Atlantis' heat protection system.

After NASA's Mission Control issued a warning, astronauts on the US space shuttle assessed the damage caused to its body during lift off.

NASA had said the blanket protrusion was exposed a few inches of underlying layers of the shuttle, which could have led to damage during the heat of re-entry, but denied any possible catastrophe.

There was also a crash last week at the station's primary computer network, raising concerns that the half-finished 100-billion dollars outpost would have to be temporarily abandoned.

ANI