Special prayers were held at Tagore Bal Niketan in Haryana's Karnal for the safe return of Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams back to earth after she created a record for the longest stay by a woman in space.

Astronaut [Images] Kalpana Chawla, who died in the Columbia space shuttle accident, studied in this school.

"We have been praying for Sunita's safe return and a special prayer was held in our school in this regard," Dr Rajan Lamba, principal of the school, said.

He said the memories of the Columbia space shuttle crash in which Kalpana Chawla was killed were still fresh in their minds.

Lamba said: "Like Kalpana, Sunita too has done us proud. Her remarkable feat is a proud moment for all of us."

He said his school would be sending two students -- its tenth batch -- to NASA [Images] this year. NASA sponsors their trip every year.

In Chandigarh, where Kalpana Chawla studied at the Punjab Engineering College, the head of the department of Aeronautical Engineering, Dr S C Sharma said everybody in the department had been praying for Sunita's safe return.

"We have been praying that Sunita should return safely," he said.