Filmmaker Shekhar Kapur has wished Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams a "happy journey" on her second visit to space.

Williams, who holds the record of the longest space flight (195 days) for a woman, started her second space odyssey Sunday.

"Wishing Sunita Williams great journey on her second outing into Space. As 12 yr old, I wrote in my school mag 'I want 2 b an Astronaut', " the 66-year-old tweeted.

The Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft carrying Williams, 46, and flight engineers Yuri Malenchenko of Russia and Akihiko Hoshide of Japan took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 8.40 a.m. Sunday (8.10 am India time), NASA said.