Who Was the First Indian to Go into Space?
When the then Prime Minster, Indira Gandhi asked how India looked from space, Rakesh Sharma— first Indian to go to space, answered by saying “saarejahan se achha” which when translated to English means “best in the world.”
Rakesh Sharma was born on 13 January, 1949 in Punjab,India. He joined the Air Force in 1966 when he was 18 years old. Soon, in the same year, he was admitted to National Defence Academy as an Air Force cadet. After proving that he is one dedicated student, he was sent to the Indian Air Force to become a pilot in 1970.
He flew aircrafts like Mikoyan-Gurevich from 1971. It wasn’t until 1984 that he was chosen by the Indian Air Force as the Squadron Leader and pilot. He was soon selected in 1982 to become a cosmonaut and go to space in a program by ISRO and Soviet Intercosmos space program.
Soviet rocket Soyuz T-11 was launched on April 1984 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic. The pilot of the rocket was Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to enter space. The crew of the ship included the Commander YuryMalyshev and Engineer Gennadi Strekalov. He spent around 7 days in the space station. He worked mainly on bio-medicine and remote sensing.
He was later awarded with the honour of “Hero of the Soviet Union.” By the Indian government, he was awarded the highest peacetime gallantry award, “Ashoka Chakra” along with the Soviet members in the program— Malyshev and Strekalov.
Rakesh Sharma later retired as the wing commander. In 1987, he joined Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and until 1992 served as the Chief Test Pilot in the HAL Nashik Division. Later, he was also associated with the Light Combat Aircraft “Tejas.”
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