Jeff Bezos-led space startup Blue Origin this month revealed the six-member crew that will fly on its NS-25 mission. That crew included Ed Dwight, who became the first black astronaut candidate in 1961 when then-US President John F. Kennedy selected him to begin training at the Aerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS), even though he had never flown in space after that. But the NS-25 mission also includes Gopi Tothakura, who could become the first Indian space tourist in history.
Thotakura is not the first Indian to aspire to space – veteran travel documentary maker Santosh George Kulangara has paid for a seat on a Virgin Galactic space plane to go to the very edge of space. Kulangara underwent numerous training sessions and flights to prepare for the role, but now it looks like Totapura may make it to space before him.
Now, neither Kulangara nor Totakura would be the first Indians to go into space. They are a bit late for this because Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian citizen to go into space in 1984 when he flew on the Soviet Soyuz T-11 rocket. Sharma spent more than seven days aboard the Soviet Union’s Salyut-7 space station.
But who is Gopi Tothakura, who will become India’s first civilian space tourist?
Gopichand Tothakura is an entrepreneur whom Blue Space describes as “a pilot and aviator who learned to fly before he could drive.” He is also the co-founder of Preserve Life Corp, a Georgia-based holistic wellness and applied health center.
“In addition to flying commercial jets, Gopi has flown bush planes, aerobatics and seaplanes, as well as gliders and hot air balloons, and has served as an international medical jet pilot. A lifelong traveler, his latest adventure took him to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro,” the Bezos-led space company said in a press release.
Thotakura’s LinkedIn profile says he studied at Sarala Birla Academy, a Bengaluru-based private school. He then earned a bachelor’s degree in aeronautical science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. He was born in Vijayawada, according to NDTV.
What is the mission that Gopi Totakura is flying on?
The Blue Origin NS-25 mission will be the first crewed flight of the fully operational New Shepard rocket since NS-22 in 2022. The rocket fleet was grounded after an engine failure caused a crash during an uncrewed mission in September 2022. and it resumed flights only in December 2023. In addition to Totakura and Ed Dwight, the mission will carry four more astronauts – Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess and Carol Schaller.
NS-25 will be Blue Origin’s seventh crewed suborbital space flight. During a suborbital space flight, the spacecraft will reach outer space, but instead of becoming an artificial satellite or gaining enough speed to escape Earth, it will complete one orbit before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. Blue Origin has not yet confirmed the date of the mission.
What is New Shepard?
The New Shepard launch system is named after Alan Shepard, the first American in space. The suborbital reusable rocket system is powered by the company’s Blue Engine 3 (BE3) engine, which can reduce the booster to just eight kilometers per hour to land the rocket’s reusable portion.
The six astronauts will sit in New Shepard’s pressurized crew capsule, where “each astronaut gets their own window seat.” The mission will not involve a pilot because the vehicle is fully autonomous.
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First uploaded to: 12-04-2024 at 11:22 IST
