Bengaluru:Renowned astronaut Sunita Williams on Wednesday said greater international cooperation is needed for future human spaceflight, and that humanity would return to the Moon and go farther into space "as human beings, not as one country."

She was speaking during an interaction on 'The Next Chapter of Space: A Conversation on Exploration, Science and Innovation' at the ninth edition of the Bengaluru Space Expo here.

Williams said countries could benefit from each other’s approaches to solving problems as they prepared for increasingly ambitious exploration missions.Responding to a question on international cooperation in human spaceflight, she said, "International cooperation is wonderful because we see how other cultures think and solve problems. We get to compare modules, spacesuits, and experiments."Group Captain Angad Pratap, one of the astronauts selected for the Gaganyaan Mission, said India still needed critical technologies for the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, including regenerative life-support systems, a functional Extravehicular activity spacesuit and docking capability.