Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will become the sixth astronaut of Indian descent to travel to space when he joins an Indo-US cooperative space mission.
Group captain Shubhanshu Shukla, who was selected to join an Indo-US joint mission to the International Space Station, is the most recent Indian in space, according to ISRO.
As a backup for the expedition, group captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair has also been selected. The first week of August is when the two “gaganyatris,” as ISRO has named them, start their training.
Shukla is now the second astronaut of Indian nationality to travel to space, and the fifth astronaut of Indian descent overall.
Below is a list of further Indian pioneers in space:
- The Rakesh Sharma
In 1984, Indian national Rakesh Sharma, who was a squadron captain in the Indian Air Force, became the first person of Indian descent to journey to space. He served on the Soyuz-T11 crew, which was a combined Russian-Indian space agency mission.
Along with his Soviet crew, Sharma conducted several scientific experiments during his 7 days, 21 hours, and 40 minute stay in space.
It is vividly recalled that Rakesh Sharma and Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had a televised news conference. Gandhi asked him what space looked like in India. “Sare jahaan se accha” (better than the entire globe), he retorted.
- Chawla Kalpana
Kalpana Chawla, the first woman of Indian descent to travel to space, made two trips there before unfortunately her away on her second expedition.
As a robotic arm operator, Kalpana Chawla made her space shuttle Columbia debut in 1997.
Along with seven other crew members, she perished on her second voyage on board Columbia in 2003 when the shuttle broke apart upon re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.
However, her reputation has endured thanks to space craters, space missions, supercomputers, and several honors that bear her name in honor of the exceptional scientist and aerospace engineer she was
- Williams Sunita
With a total of seven spacewalks, Sunita Williams formerly held the records for both the longest spacewalk by a woman (50 hours and 40 minutes) and the most spacewalks by a female astronaut.
Williams, with three space missions in 2006, 2012, and 2024, holds the record for the most space flights by an astronaut of Indian descent.
She completed the first marathon ever completed in space in 2007. She has been preparing to become an astronaut since 1998, and her career as an astronaut will last until 2024.
- Mahachari
The United States Air Force’s Brigadier General Raja Chari started NASA’s astronaut training program in 2017.
With the aspirational objective of “helping pave the way for the next lunar missions including sending the first woman and next man to walk on the lunar surface in 2024,” he joined the Artemis team around 2020.
When he launched into space with Space-X crew 3, he became the first rookie astronaut in NASA history to command a space mission since 1981.
When his crewmate’s helmet camera broke free during a spacewalk and Chari was able to replace it on the spot, Chari demonstrated his abilities and foresight.
