Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to fly in a Soyuz W-11 spacecraft. (April 2,1984)

Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to fly in a Soyuz W-11 spacecraft. (April 2,1984)

 

Rakesh Sharma was born on January 13, 1949, in Patiala, Punjab, India. Born in Patiala, Rakesh Sharma joined the Defense Academy at the age of seventeen. He joined the Indian Air Force and served well. In particular, in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war, he operated mic aircraft on the battlefield. As part of his work, he has been involved in several space travel projects in collaboration with the Indian Space Research Organization and the Russian Space Research Organization.

 

His journey as an astronaut began on September 20, 1982. He was trained for about a year and a half. As a result, Rakesh went down in history on April 2, 1984. That was the day he embarked on space travel. He was accompanied by two Russian astronauts onboard the Soyuz T11 spacecraft. He stayed for eight days at the Salute 7 space centre. While in space, he spoke on the phone with Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi as he was there. Indira Gandhi asked him how India looks when viewed from space. Rakesh Sharma received the Ashoka Chakra Award in recognition of his work. He was awarded the Man of Soviet Russia Order of the Lenin.

Source By: Wikipedia

Information: Ramesh, Assistant Professor of Physics, Nehru Memorial College, Puthanampatti.