Astronaut Suni Williams delivers Merrimack College commencement address, reflects on time in space

Astronaut Suni Williams delivered the commencement address at Merrimack College Thursday morning The Needham native gave a heartfelt message to students speaking on experiences from her extended time in space Yes we could have worried about getting home for those nine months but instead we had time to look at the foliage and we did And what a mission We saw the majority of unbelievable auroras last summer and fall while the teams on the ground were trying to decide if we were going to come home on Starliner or not Williams mentioned There was so much solar activity that allowed us to not only fly through the green aurora but to see reds and purples I d been up in space two times before over days and I d never seen that before That was cool she continued Williams also received an honorary degree She is scheduled to meet with Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey at the State House Thursday afternoon The astronaut spent months on the International Space Station because of equipment problems The mission was only supposed to last a couple of days