Thursday, 4:30 PM
Return of local astronaut greeted with joy in Mass.
By Claire Cummings, Globe correspondent
Needham astronaut Sunita Williams returned to Earth on Friday, her record stay in space lengthened to 195 days because bad weather delayed and diverted the shuttle Atlantis.
Family and friends sighed with relief when the shuttle landed smoothly at Edwards Air Force Base in California, the backup landing site.
‘‘Until they really touch down, you’re not really sure,’’ said Williams’ sixth-grade teacher, Angela DiNapoli, who has been e-mailing her former student throughout the six months.
‘‘I’m just glad that she’s back,’’ DiNapoli said in a telephone interview. ‘‘Deep down inside I knew she’d make it back OK. It was a beautiful landing.’’
Williams flew back in a reclining position so she could readapt to gravity more easily and underwent an immediate medical checkup. The transition can take several weeks, said James Hartsfield, a NASA spokesman. She will be monitored for 45 days and will be on a strict diet and exercise regimen, including swimming.
Williams, 41, was expected to stay overnight in California and return today to Houston, where her family, including her parents, Deepak and Bonnie Pandya, who live in Falmouth, is awaiting her arrival.
Williams set an endurance record for the longest single spaceflight by a woman at 195 days. During her stay on the International Space Station, she also set the record for most time spacewalking by a woman.
She told reporters Wednesday that she looked forward to a slice of pizza and walking on the beach with her husband and dog, Gorby. But she was going to miss the space station.
‘‘When you’ve been somewhere for six months, it becomes your home and it’s hard to leave,’’ Williams said.
Williams proudly displayed her Massachusetts roots during her stint on the space station. She talked often of her love of the Red Sox, and ran a version of the Boston Marathon on a special treadmill, while her sister Dina Pandya ran the real race on Earth.
In May, Williams held a video conference from space with DiNapoli’s current students at Newman Elementary in Needham.
Williams was sent to the space center to perform maintenance, including rewiring power sources on spacewalks. She also took part in fitness and nutrition studies to help reduce loss of bone and muscle mass that humans experience while living in weightless environments, which could be useful for possible manned flights to Mars.
Her final days on the station were complicated by computer malfunctions on the Russian portion of the station that controls oxygen production. But the problem was resolved last weekend and the shuttle was cleared for return.
Atlantis’ voyage, however, was delayed two days because the crew had to fix a heat shield on the shuttle, which protects it from the harsh heat on reentry into Earth’s atmosphere.
Williams’ sister, Dina Pandya, said Thursday that her family was confident NASA and the crew would return Williams safely.
‘‘I’m just hoping they get the show on the road and just come home,’’ she said before leaving for Houston.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
