Indian astronauts

Presentation by VIGNESH
VISHWANATH
XII-C
 Rakesh sharma-The first Indian
cosmonaut
• Rakesh Sharma, AC, Hero of the Soviet
Union(born 13 January 1949) is a former Indian
Air Force pilot who flew aboard the Soyuz T-11,
launched on April 2, 1984, as part of the Soviet
Intercosmos programme. Sharma was the first
Indian to travel in space. India became the 14th
nation to send a man to space and Sharma was
the 138th man in space.
 EARLY LIFE

• Rakesh Sharma was born on 13 January 1949 in Patiala,

Punjab, India. He attended St. Georges Grammar School,
Hyderabad. He graduated from Nizam College. He joined
the Air Force as a cadet in 1966 at the age of 18. Then, he
was admitted to the National Defence Academy as an Air
Force plebe in July 1966. Rakesh proved to be a focused
and dedicated student and by 1970, he was
commissioned into the Indian Air Force to become a
pilot.
 CAREER LIFE

• In 1971,he was appointed as Squandron

Leader. He flew various Mi-G(Mikoyan
Gurevich) aircrafts and participated as a test
pilot in war operations against Pakistan and
Bangladesh. In 1982,he was selected to
become a cosmonaut as part of the joint
venture between ISRO and Soviet Intercosmos
Space Programme.
 Space Activities
• In 1984,he flew aboard the Soyuz T-11 with Yuri
Malyshev and Gennadi Strekalov. They were
successfully docked into the Salyut 7 orbital
station. The crew spent 8 days, studying fluid
dynamics, bio medicine and remote sensing. He
practised zero-gravity yoga exercises. They had a
live interview with Moscow and the then Indian
Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. When she asked
him how India looked from space,he said, “SAARE
JAHAAN SE ACCHHA”, meaning , ’the most
beautiful in the world’.
RAKESH SHARMA’S MESSAGE FROM
SPACE
TIME IN SPACE
 Post-Cosmonaut Career
• Rakesh retired with the rank of Wing
Commander. He joined the Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited in 1987 and served as
Chief Test Pilot in the HAL Nashik Division until
1992, before moving on to Bangalore to work
as the Chief Test Pilot of HAL. He was also
associated with the Light Combat Aircraft
Tejas. He took part in an ISRO conference in
2003.
 AWARDS AND HONORS

• Upon his return from space, Rakesh Sharma

was conferred with the title of ‘HERO OF THE
SOVIET UNION’. Later, he was awarded the
‘ASHOK CHAKRA’ along with the other two
cosmonauts. This was the first time foreigners
were awarded the Ashok Chakra.
 Ravish malhotra

• Ravish Malhotra is a retired Air Commandore of

the IAF. He was selected along with Rakesh
Sharma in 1982 to undergo cosmonaut training in
Russia. However, he served as a backup for
Sharma and never went to space.
• He prepared an elaborate series of zero-gravity
yoga exercises for Rakesh Sharma to reduce space
sickness. He was awarded the Kirti Chakra.
 Kalpana chawla
• Kalpana was the first Indian woman astronaut
and the second Indian to go space. Right from
her childhood, she dreamt of going into space.
• It was her fascination for flying that made her
fulfil her dreams. She went to space twice and
made India proud. Her inspiration to take up
flying was JRD Tata.
 Early Life
• Kalpana was actually born on March 17,1962,but
her D.O.B was altered to July 1,1961 for her school
admissions. She always spoke about designing and
flying planes and wanted to go to Mars. In terms
of academics, she was not always the best, but
had a very inquisitive mind. She always asked
questions on space. She was good at dance,
athletics, science modelling, drawing and also
learnt karate. Later she studied at Punjab
Engineering College, moved to Texas and earned a
doctorate in Aerospace Engineering from
Colorado University.
 Career Life
• She started her career as a scientist at NASA Ames
Research Centre. She did research on short/vertical
take-off and landing systems. Meanwhile, she
earned her Commercial Pilot’s License for gliders,
seaplanes and tail-wheel airplanes. She was
appointed as Vice President at California and did
research on fluid dynamics. In 1993, she applied as
an astronaut, but was rejected. For the second
time, she applied and got selected. She then
underwent astronaut training for a year.
 Space Activities
• In 1997,she started her first space flight and was
part of the crew of the STS 87. She was assigned as
Flight Engineer and studied astronomy. The crew
completed more than 100 orbits of the Earth. But
she was blamed for sending a satellite that was out
of control. In 2000, she wanted a second chance. In
2003, she was assigned as Mission Specialist and
Robotic Arm Operator for the STS-107. She
travelled 10.4 million k.m. But this was her last
mission. The shuttle exploded while re-entry and
killed the seven astronaut crew.
 Awards and Honors
• Posthumously, she was awarded the
nasa spaceflight medal, nasa
distinguished service medal and
the congressional medal of
honour.
 SUNITA WILIAMS

• Sunita Williams became the second Indian-

American woman astronaut after Chawla. She
was working as a test pilot at the US Navy. She
was born on September 19, 1965 in Slovenia.
• She has a record of having performed 7
spacewalks and has the maximum time for a
spacewalk(50 hrs 40 mins). She spent 321
days in space with around 6 space missions.
 EARLY LIFE
• Sunita Williams was born in Euclid, Ohio, to
Indian American neuroanatomist Deepak Pandya
and Slovene American Ursuline Bonnie Pandya
(née Zalokar) residing in Falmouth,
Massachusetts.
• Williams graduated from Needham High School in
Needham, Massachusetts, in 1983. She received
a Bachelor of Science degree in physical science
from the United States Naval Academy in 1987,
and a Master of Science degree in Engineering
Management from Florida Institute of
Technology in 1995.
 Military Career
• Sunita Williams was commissioned into the US Navy
in 1987. After completing her training, she was
appointed as Naval Aviator. Thereafter she flew
squandron helicopters including HC-3, HC-8 and
HC-46 Knight. Later, she served as a helicopter test
pilot and flew SH-60B/F, UH-1, AH-1W, SH-2, VH-3,
H-46, CH-53(military relief operations). She has
logged more than 3000 hrs of flight time in 30
different aircraft types.
• In 1998, she was selected as an astronaut
candidate.
 NASA Career
• Sunita Williams started off her first space-flight in 2006.
She flew aboard the STS-116 and the Expedition 14 in
2007. Thereby she performed a series of spacewalks.
As part of the Expedition 15, she was docked into the
International Space Station where she studied the
effects of body exercises in zero-gravity condition. She
later became part of the Russian Cosmonaut
progamme and flew aboard the Soyuz TMA. She used
the ISS’s gym and did exercises for a few hours.
 CURRENT STATUS

• In July 2015, NASA announced Williams as one

of the first astronauts for U.S. Commercial
spaceflights. Subsequently, she has started
working with Boeing and SpaceX to train in
their commercial crew vehicles, along with
other chosen astronauts.
• She is a member of Society of Experimental
Test Pilots.
 AWARDS AND HONORS
• NAVY COMMENDATION MEDAL
• NAVY AND MARINE CORPS ACHIEVEMENT MEDAL
• HUMANITARIAN SERVICE MEDAL
• NATIONAL DEFENCE SERVICE MEDAL
• NASA SPACEFLIGHT MEDAL
• MERIT- ‘SPACE EXPLORATION’
• PADMA BHUSHAN
 DR. SHAUNA
PANDYA
• Dr. Shauna Pandya is a neurosurgeon and general
physician at Canada’s Alberta Hospital, who has
been selected to become an astronaut. She will be
performing two spaceflights in 2018. She will be
doing research on medical science at the ISS.
• She is also an author, opera singer ; taekwondo
and muay thai champion with a NAVY SEAL.
• She is all set to make the nation proud!
 Thank You

Thank you for watching

Dedicated to all aspiring INDIAN
ASTRONAUTS.
By: Vignesh Vishwanath (XII-C)