Houston, Aviator Gopi Thotakura has said he is proud to become the first Indian to go to space as a tourist on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin's NS-25 mission.
Blue Origin's seventh manned flight carrying 30-year-old Thotakura and five others took off from Launch Site One in West Texas on Sunday and landed successfully.
He is the first Indian space tourist and the second Indian to go to space after Indian Army Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma in 1984.
In a video posted by Blue Origin on X, he was heard saying from the space flight, "India is in space." He was also seen holding a small Indian flag.The 30-year-old Andhra Pradesh-born entrepreneur and pilot was also seen holding a banner that read, "I am an eco-warrior for our sustainable planet".
Other astronauts on the flight included Mason Engel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hayes, Carroll Schaller, and former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight, who was selected by President John F. Kennedy as the nation's first black astronaut candidate in 1961. But he never got the opportunity to fly. ,
All the crew members were excited to take off.
New Shepard has sent 37 people into space so far, including today's crew.
This mission was the seventh manned flight for the New Shepard program and the 25th in its history.To date, the program has flown 31 humans above the Karma Line, the proposed conventional boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space.
New Shepard is a fully reusable suborbital launch vehicle developed by Blue Origin for space tourism.
According to Blue Origin, "Gopi is a pilot and aviator who learned to fly before he could drive."
Gopi co-founded Preserve Life Corp., a global center for holistic wellness and behavioral health located near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
In addition to flying jets commercially, he also flies bush, aerobatic, seaplanes as well as gliders and hot air balloons and has also served as an international medical jet pilot.A lifelong traveler, his most recent adventure took him to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Thotakura is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
During the mission, the crew flew at more than three times the speed of sound as the rocket carried the capsule past the Kármán Line, an area 100 kilometers above the Earth's surface that is widely known as that altitude. is where outer space begins — but there's a lot of gray area, CNN reported.
It said that at the peak of the flight, passengers experienced weightlessness for a few minutes and amazing views of the Earth from the cabin windows.
During the flight, each astronaut took to space a postcard from Blue Origin's foundation, Club for the Future.The program gives students access to space on Blue Origin's rocket, including an all-digital method for creating and sending postcards. The club's mission is to inspire and motivate future generations to pursue careers in STEA (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) for the benefit of the Earth.
From an environmental perspective, about 99 percent of New Shepard's dry mass is reused, including the booster, capsule, engines, landing gear and parachute.
New Shepard's engine is powered by highly efficient liquid oxygen and hydrogen. The only byproduct during flight is water vapor, which produces no carbon emissions, the company previously said.Bezos' space company halted its suborbital tourism program after the New Shepard rocket malfunctioned during liftoff. In September 2022, an uncrewed flight of New Shepard burst into flames about a minute after takeoff.
Blue Origin's seventh manned flight carrying 30-year-old Thotakura and five others took off from Launch Site One in West Texas on Sunday and landed successfully.
He is the first Indian space tourist and the second Indian to go to space after Indian Army Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma in 1984.
In a video posted by Blue Origin on X, he was heard saying from the space flight, "India is in space." He was also seen holding a small Indian flag.The 30-year-old Andhra Pradesh-born entrepreneur and pilot was also seen holding a banner that read, "I am an eco-warrior for our sustainable planet".
Other astronauts on the flight included Mason Engel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hayes, Carroll Schaller, and former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight, who was selected by President John F. Kennedy as the nation's first black astronaut candidate in 1961. But he never got the opportunity to fly. ,
All the crew members were excited to take off.
New Shepard has sent 37 people into space so far, including today's crew.
This mission was the seventh manned flight for the New Shepard program and the 25th in its history.To date, the program has flown 31 humans above the Karma Line, the proposed conventional boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space.
New Shepard is a fully reusable suborbital launch vehicle developed by Blue Origin for space tourism.
According to Blue Origin, "Gopi is a pilot and aviator who learned to fly before he could drive."
Gopi co-founded Preserve Life Corp., a global center for holistic wellness and behavioral health located near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
In addition to flying jets commercially, he also flies bush, aerobatic, seaplanes as well as gliders and hot air balloons and has also served as an international medical jet pilot.A lifelong traveler, his most recent adventure took him to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Thotakura is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
During the mission, the crew flew at more than three times the speed of sound as the rocket carried the capsule past the Kármán Line, an area 100 kilometers above the Earth's surface that is widely known as that altitude. is where outer space begins — but there's a lot of gray area, CNN reported.
It said that at the peak of the flight, passengers experienced weightlessness for a few minutes and amazing views of the Earth from the cabin windows.
During the flight, each astronaut took to space a postcard from Blue Origin's foundation, Club for the Future.The program gives students access to space on Blue Origin's rocket, including an all-digital method for creating and sending postcards. The club's mission is to inspire and motivate future generations to pursue careers in STEA (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) for the benefit of the Earth.
From an environmental perspective, about 99 percent of New Shepard's dry mass is reused, including the booster, capsule, engines, landing gear and parachute.
New Shepard's engine is powered by highly efficient liquid oxygen and hydrogen. The only byproduct during flight is water vapor, which produces no carbon emissions, the company previously said.Bezos' space company halted its suborbital tourism program after the New Shepard rocket malfunctioned during liftoff. In September 2022, an uncrewed flight of New Shepard burst into flames about a minute after takeoff.
