Entrepreneur and pilot Gopichand Thotakula aims to make his mark in India’s space history

Earlier this month, Blue Origin, owned by Jeff Bezos, announced six crew members who will take part in an upcoming commercial flight to space. Of interest to India is one participant, Gopichand Sotakula, an Indian businessman and pilot based in the United States.

Although the actual launch date has not been disclosed, if the space trip is successful, Thotakula will become the only Indian to achieve this honor since Rakesh Sharma, who flew into space in April 1984. He could be (and still is) the first Indian to go into space. Russian Soyuz T-11 spacecraft.

In a media statement, Sothakula referred to himself as “India’s first civilian astronaut”. In response to questions from hinduismHe reasoned that he would become an astronaut, since anyone who crosses the Kármán Line (the line at about 80 kilometers above sea level that separates Earth’s atmosphere from outer space) is considered an astronaut.

Consider that Blue Origin’s vehicle, the New Shepard Rocket (NS-25), can rise 100km above the Earth’s surface and stay in space long enough for its crew to experience weightlessness and observe the Earth’s curvature. And this is great. All boxes for space travel. Rakesh Sharma, who spent a week on the Russian space station, fits the classic definition of an astronaut, but it’s unclear whether Totakula can be called an astronaut.

Until 2021, these distinctions didn’t matter. Until then, all human spaceflights had been part of a mission involving trained military personnel and astronauts who lived in space and participated in test flights.

Starting in 2021, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which issues commercial space licenses and verifies human-carrying launch and reentry vehicles, will no longer refer to astronauts as “astronauts.”

In 2004, the FAA launched the “Commercial Astronaut Wings” program, a $10 million grant to launch reusable spacecraft that could carry people to the Karman boundary and return in two weeks for repeated launches. gave a prize. However, some people in NASA’s training programs are designated as astronauts, regardless of whether they actually go to space, although they are given different categories of astronauts depending on the activities they perform. .

To earn these astronaut wings (specially designed insignia), you must be part of a designated “flight crew” or actually participate in a manned spacecraft launch, atmospheric entry, or other operation. It must be someone who has contributed. Ahead of preparations for India’s own Gaganyaan mission, two or three Air Force pilots are expected to fly a three-day mission in low Earth orbit in 2025, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced that four selected pilots will be sent to space. Awarded aviator’s wings. Although unconfirmed, there are reports that one of the pilots may make a commercial trip to the International Space Station as part of a US-India agreement later this year.

In 2021, the FAA announced that the creation of a commercial space enterprise means that the 2004 program goals have been achieved. Starting in 2021, anyone, regardless of nationality, who reaches at least 50 miles (80 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface on an FAA-approved launch will be eligible to be listed as a space tourist on the agency’s website, but commercial wings such as will no longer be available. Astronauts Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, owners of two commercial companies, received wings for their 2021 flights. According to these standards at the time, Mr. Sothak would not be eligible for a commercial wing, although he would have access to the website. Blue Origin will award successful participants their own custom-made wings.

The term astronaut reflects a US-centric view of space travel. Russian cosmonauts are called “cosmonauts”, Chinese cosmonauts are “taikonauts”, future Indians are colloquially called “viomanauts” or “gaganauts”, and each country is called a space traveler. This suggests that you can freely define it in your own terms. S. Somnath, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) said: hinduism Such was the success of Thotskula’s flight that before the Gaganyaan mission he was supposed to become the “second Indian to go into space, technically an astronaut”.

Mr. Thokla was born in Vijaywada, went to school in Visakhapatnam, studied aeronautical engineering, and trained to become a pilot in the United States. “I’ve always wanted to go to space. When I came to the U.S. in 2010, this meant he had to go through NASA or be a U.S. citizen, and those were barriers for me. Blue・Origin has opened up more opportunities for me,” he said.

Blue Origin does not disclose the cost of the space trip, but a 2021 Virgin Galactic ticket cost $450,000. Blue Origin has given celebrities free rides, and seats on its 2021 flight were reportedly sold at auction for $28 million. Another organization has donated $1 million, and some of the selected organizations have sponsors.

Sothakula, co-founder of Atlanta-based health and wellness company Preserve Life Corporation, declined to say how he secured a seat on flight NS-25. “There was no real selection process or criteria. I was passionate about getting on board a manned mission. It’s the desire to carry Indian blood into space,” he added.

His mission involves carrying postcards and “different types of luggage” that will later become souvenirs.

“We want to show that you need to have a dream to go to space, and it doesn’t really matter whether you are a scientist, engineer or pilot,” he added. “India launched the Chandrayaan mission and the Mars mission at a fraction of the cost internationally. With a little more funding, India could easily become a pioneer in commercial space travel.”