Sunita Williams

Houston, Dec. 20 (PTI): It is not unusual for astronauts to cut their hair in space. But Indian American flight engineer Sunita Williams has cut her mane in space for a good cause.

Sunita arranged to have her locks cut last Sunday and the clippings were stowed on Discovery for a future hairpiece to be donated to a patient suffering from long-term medical hair loss, Collectspace.com has reported.

Her hair stylist was none other than the mission specialist Joan Higginbotham, who worked with Sunita on the station to operate its robot arm and helped in the effort to transfer supplies, including William’s own items, from Discovery to the ISS.

Sunita’s new hairdo was noticed soon after by Mission Control, who commented on it but made no mention of where the separated strands were destined.

Sources close to Sunita said the astronaut intended to donate her hair to a charity that would use it to make a wig for a medically ill patient. “This is the first (we) have heard of anything like this. It sounds pretty cool but we haven’t heard anything yet,” a spokesperson for the Florida-based non-profit Locks of Love said.

Sunita’s pony tail will land with the Discovery crew, which is scheduled to return to Earth on Friday, while Sunita will stay back for another six months.

During long duration missions, astronauts do cut their hair but the clippings are generally discarded.

Discovery farewell

Sunita Williams bade an emotional farewell to the seven-member Discovery shuttle crew who left the orbiting space laboratory to begin a two-day journey back to Earth.

Discovery is due to land at Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center on Friday. It must land no later than Saturday because of supply limitations.

“We bid a bittersweet fare-well to Discovery,” Expedition 14 (the team at the International Space Station) commander Micheal Lopez-Alegria said, adding: “We’d like to welcome Suni to our crew.”