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List of astronauts of Indian origin

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For Indian nationals in space, see List of Indian astronauts.

As of 2024, Four people of Indian origin have been in space. The first astronaut of the Indian nationality, in space was Rakesh Sharma on Soyuz T-11 in 1984.[1][2] Three astronauts – Kalpana Chawla,[3][4] Sunita Williams[5] and Raja Chari[6][7] – flew as NASA astronauts. Sirisha Bandla is the first and only Indian-born woman to make a suborbital flight, which she did on Virgin Galactic Unity 22 on July 11, 2021.[8][9][10]

Williams with three spaceflights, have the record of most number of spaceflights by an astronaut of Indian origin.[11][12] Williams and Chari are the only astronauts to have made long-term spaceflights.[12][13]

Orbital

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No. Image Name
Birth date 		Ancestry Birth Comment Missions (Launch date)
1 Kalpana Chawla
March 17, 1962 		 India First Indian American in space and First Indian origin woman in Space. Died on the Columbia. United States STS-87 (November 19, 1997)
United States STS-107 (January 16, 2003)
2 Sunita Williams
September 19, 1965 		 India  United States Served on ISS Expedition 14/15, Expedition 32/33 and Expedition 71/72. Second female commander of ISS. First female astronaut to fly on a orbital spacecraft's maiden flight, i.e., Boeing Starliner. United States STS-116/117 (December 9, 2006)
Russia Soyuz TMA-05M (July 15, 2012)
United States Starliner Crewed Flight Test/SpaceX Crew-9 (June 5, 2024)
3 Raja Chari
June 24, 1977 		 India  United States Selected in 2017 to NASA Astronaut Group 22. United States SpaceX Crew-3 (November 11, 2021)

Suborbital

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No. Image Name
Birth date 		Ancestry Birth Comment Missions (Launch date)
1 Sirisha Bandla
1988 		 India Second Indian-born woman to fly to space, First Indian-American space tourist. United States Virgin Galactic Unity 22 (July 11, 2021)
2 Gopichand Thotakura
1993 		 India 2nd Indian citizen to fly to space.[14] Entrepreneur and an accomplished pilot. United States Blue Origin NS-25 (May 19, 2024)[15]
3 Andy Sadhwani
1988 		 India  United States Principal Propulsion Engineer at SpaceX United States Galactic 07 (June 8, 2024)[16][17]

References

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  1. ^ "Cosmonaut Biography: Rakesh Sharma". Spacefacts.de. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  2. ^ "Rakesh Sharma". Mapsofindia.com. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  3. ^ Salim Rizvi (11 December 2006). "Indo-US astronaut follows Kalpana's footsteps". New York: BBC. Retrieved 20 November 2012. Almost four years after the death of the first American astronaut Kalpana Chawla in the Columbia space shuttle disaster, Nasa has sent another woman of Indian origin into space.
  4. ^ Nola Taylor Redd. "Kalpana Chawla: Biography & Columbia Disaster". Space.com. Tech Media Network. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
  5. ^ NASA (2007). "Sunita L. Williams (Commander, USN)" (PDF). National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved December 19, 2007.
  6. ^ Garcia, Mark (February 7, 2018). "Astronaut Candidate Raja Chari". NASA. Archived from the original on February 6, 2022. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
  7. ^ Harwood, William (June 7, 2017). "NASA introduces 12 new astronauts". CBS News. CBS Broadcasting. Retrieved June 8, 2017.
  8. ^ "Sirisha Bandla: India celebrates woman who flew on Virgin Galactic". BBC News. 2021-07-12. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  9. ^ "Family of Indian-American astronaut on Virgin Galactic crew "happy and overwhelmed"". Reuters. 2021-07-05. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  10. ^ Madhok, Diksha (12 July 2021). "Sirisha Bandla, India-born woman and Virgin Galactic executive, flies into space with Richard Branson". CNN. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  11. ^ "Biographical Data" (PDF). Retrieved 2024-02-02.
  12. ^ a b "Sunita L. Williams – NASA". Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  13. ^ "NASA Astronaut: Raja Chari – NASA". Retrieved 2024-02-03.
  14. ^ John, Nirmal (2024-04-12). "Meet Gopichand Thotakura, the 2nd Indian citizen in space after Rakesh Sharma". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 2024-10-29.
  15. ^ "Meet Gopichand Thotakura: Vijayawada-born pilot to become 2nd Indian to fly to space – A look at his inspiring journey". ET NOW. 2024-04-13. Retrieved 2024-04-14.
  16. ^ Jonathan McDowell [@planet4589] (8 June 2024). "Galactic 07 was dropped and fired its rocket engine at about 1526:30 UTC and landed at around 1541 UTC. Apogee not yet known" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  17. ^ "'Galactic 07' mission launch window opens June 8". Virgin Galactic (Press release). 1 May 2024. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
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