Smiles for Sunita
November 25, 2024
• “Hometown hero” Sunita Williams received a special message from Earth while she orbits the planet.
Huddled around the 50-yard mark on Memorial Field, hundreds of people arrived not for a football game, but a photo, and one for a former Needham resident more than 250 miles above them.
When astronaut Sunita Williams launched into space in June, the journey was only supposed to take about a week. But malfunctioning spacecraft have kept Williams and her colleague Butch Wilmore stuck hovering above the Earth’s surface on the International Space Station, where they’re expected to remain until February.
In a show of solidarity, Williams’ hometown organized a surprise community photo on Saturday morning. And while the gathering may not have been visible from space, hundreds showed up to signal their support.
When news broke about Williams’ predicament, local leaders discussed how they might “demonstrate the town’s care and concern,” said Amy Haelsen, the town’s director of communications and community engagement.
“The idea that stuck was a community photograph, so that we could have it be all inclusive,” Haelsen said, “and what better place than on the football field of the high school where she graduated?”
Williams graduated from Needham High School in 1983, going on to the United States Naval Academy and on deployment overseas. Prior to her current space expedition, Williams spent a collective 322 days on the ISS.
More than 300 people participated in the photo, including town officials, state Sen. Becca Rausch, public safety personnel, local students and a couple dogs. Locals held up a 30-foot-long banner that read “Needham Loves Sunita.”
Young Needhamites previously made contact with Williams back in June, when she spoke to students at Sunita Williams Elementary School.
While Williams may miss the Needham-Wellesley Thanksgiving game, the blue tree lighting and other festivities in the next few months, Needham residents look forward to her safe descent early next year. Haelsen described the astronaut as “a really spectacular person” enduring “one of the most challenging experiences.”
“This is an effort by the town to send well wishes up to our hometown hero, and let her know that we’re thinking of her,” Haelsen said.
