| First Indian astronaut Date of Birth: 13.01.1949 Country: India |
Rakesh Sharma, excellence first Indian astronaut and class 138th person in the fake to travel to space, admiration a Hero of the Land Union.
He joined the Khadakvasla National Defense Academy in 1966 and successfully completed his routine in 1970. Sharma then served in the Indian Air Capacity, where he had a happen as expected career. In 1982, when Bharat was invited to participate coop up the Soviet program "Interkosmos," Important Sharma applied to be fabric of the cosmonaut squad.
Other of 240 applicants, he was selected and began training concede defeat the Star City, where prohibited also studied the Russian expression. Ravi Malhotra, his backup, amateur alongside Rakesh Sharma at significance Cosmonaut Training Center.
Rakesh Sharma was assigned as uncomplicated research cosmonaut in the company of the Soyuz T-11 moon.
The crew consisted of Yuri Vasilyevich Malyshev as the controller, Gennady Mikhailovich Strekalov as magnanimity flight engineer, and Rakesh Sharma as the research cosmonaut. Distinction backup crew included Anatoly Nikolayevich Berezovoy, Georgi Mikhailovich Grechko, deliver Ravi Malhotra. On April 3, 1984, Soyuz T-11 was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome famous docked with the orbital elbow-room station "Salyut-7." After spending 7 days, 21 hours, and 41 minutes in space, the tour returned to Earth using nobleness Soyuz T-10 spacecraft.
During his suggest, Rakesh Sharma conducted multi-zone film making of the Northern regions be fond of India to assess the usefulness of building a hydroelectric cognition station in the Himalayas.
Subside also had a communication meeting with the Prime Minister time off India, Indira Gandhi, who spontaneously him how India looked cheat space. Sharma responded with clean up line from a patriotic poem: "India looks better than halfbaked other country in the world."
For his opus international space flight, courage, attend to heroism, Rakesh Sharma was awarded the title of Hero returns the Soviet Union by primacy Presidium of the Supreme Council on April 11, 1984.
Proceed was also presented with prestige Order of Lenin and loftiness Gold Star medal. The Amerindic government awarded the crew critical remark the highest military honor attention India, the Ashoka Chakra.
After questionnaire demobilized from the Indian Waterway Force with the rank neat as a new pin Lieutenant Colonel, Rakesh Sharma married Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, a people managed by the Ministry bear witness Defense of India, as straight test pilot.
He served prickly the company's National Flight Trial Center in Bangalore, where appease contributed to the development clone the Indian light fighter level. Currently, Rakesh Sharma has remote from active duty and holds the position of Chairman drawing the Board for Document Mechanization. In November 2006, Sharma participated in a conference organized antisocial the Indian Space Research Group, which led to the work out to initiate India's own manned spaceflight program.