Rakesh Sharma ,the first Indian to travel to space has his 73rd birth anniversary today .On his birthday, we will share some most interesting facts about him in this article.
- He was born on January 13, 1949 in Patiala ,Punjab. He had completed his education from Hyderabad. He also worked as a chief test pilot in the Indian Air Force.
- As a test pilot , he was also an important part of the war operation against Pakistan. He was a pilot and a cosmonaut.
- He was a part of a joint programme of Indian Research Space Organisation (ISRO) and Soviet Intercosmos Space programme.In 1984, he became the first Indian to travel into space and flew aboard on Soyuz T-11.
- He was the first to practice zero gravity yoga to cope up with space sickness in 1984.
- Rakesh Sharma said “Saare Jahaan Se Achha” as his response to Indira Gandhi’s question about how India looked from space. For him the most beautiful moments were that of sunrise and sunsets.
- He also took snaps of northern India from the outer space during his 7 days, 21 hours and 40 minutes duration trip into the space.
- Sharma was awarded with the ‘Hero of Soviet Union’. He was also awarded with the Ashok Chakra by the Indian Government alongwith his Russian co-astronauts Malyshev and Strekalov.
