Claim
Indian-origin NASA astronaut Sunita Williams at a press conference credits the Bhagwad Gita and the Upanishads for her safe return from her 9-month mission in space.
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
Fact
Newschecker ran a keyword search for “Sunita Williams press conference,” which did not lead us to any credible news reports about Williams addressing the media following her return to Earth aboard SpaceX’s Dragon Freedom on March 18.
We noticed that at one point (00:08 mark) in the 40-second video, there was a text reading, “Sunita Williams In Delhi,” indicating that the press conference was not recent.
A relevant keyword search led us to this 04:40-minute NDTV news report, dated April 2, 2013, headlined, “I had samosas in space with me, says astronaut Sunita Williams”. According to the description, Williams was speaking at the National Science Centre in Delhi. The viral excerpts, edited together, can be seen from the 00:39-00:46 mark; 00:56-01:11 mark; 01:17-01:24 mark and the 01:42-01:52 mark, confirming that the viral video is old.
We also came across this Hindustan Times news report, headlined “Samosas, Ganesh idol in Sunita William’s space kit”, dated April 2, 2013, on Williams’ interaction with students at the National Science Centre in Delhi. “During a 2013 press conference in New Delhi, Williams revealed that she carries the Bhagavad Gita and samosas with her during her space mission,” read a DD News report on Boeing’s Starliner mission, dated June 6, 2024, further confirming that the viral video is from 2013. News18, too, has reported on the 2013 video of Williams’ press conference going viral this month amid her much-anticipated return from space.
Source
NDTV report, April 2, 2013
Hindustan Times report, April 2, 2013