From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rakesh Sharma
(born 13 January 1949) is a retired
Squadron Leader
in the
Indian Air Force
. He was the first
Indian
and 138th person to travel in space.
Sharma retired from the Air force as
Wing Commander
. He spent eight days in
Salyut 7
Space station
in April 1984. He was given the
Hero of Soviet Union
by the
Soviet
Government and the
Ashok Chakra
by the Indian Government.
Sharma joined as a test pilot in the Indian Air Force in 196
0. He flew various aircrafts, for example Mikoyan-Gurevich (
MIG
) aircraft in 1971.
[1]
He was selected on 20
September in 1982 to become a cosmonaut and go into space as part of a joint program between the
Indian Space Research Organisation
and the Soviet
Intercosmos
space program.
[2]
In 1984, he became the first Indian to fly to space, when he flew aboard the
Soyuz T-11
. It took off from
Baikonur Cosmodrome
in 2 April 1984. The Soyuz T-11 reached the
Salyut 7
space station, with the ship's commander,
Yury Malyshev
, and flight engineer,
Gennadi Strekalov
. Sharma spent 7
days, 21
hours and 40
minutes in the Salyut 7.
[2]
The crew held a television news conference with officials in
Moscow
and then Indian Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi
. When Gandhi asked Sharma how India looked from outer space, he replied, "
Sare Jahan Se Accha
" (the best in the world). This is the title of a
patriotic
poem by
Muhammad Iqbal
against the
British Raj
. India became the 14th
nation to send a man to outer space.
[2]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Soyuz T-11
.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Soyuz T-10
.
