Rakesh Sharma

Rakesh Sharma (born 13 January 1949) is an Indian cosmonaut and a pilot of the Indian Air Force. He became the first Indian to travel to outer space, when he flew aboard Soyuz T-11 on 3 April 1984 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme.

Early and personal life Rakesh Sharma was born on 13 January 1949 in Patiala into a Punjabi family. He attended St. George's Grammar School and graduated from Nizam College, Hyderabad. He joined the National Defence Academy as an air force plebe in July 1966.

Sharma married Madhu, and the couple have three children including film director Kapil Sharma.

Career Sharma was commissioned into the Indian Air Force (IAF) as a pilot in 1970. He flew 21 combat missions piloting the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 during the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971. In 1984, he was promoted to the rank of squadron leader.

Sharma became the first Indian to travel to outer space when he flew aboard the Soviet Soyuz T-11 mission, launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic on 3 April 1984. The Soyuz-T spacecraft carried a three member crew, consisting of the ship's commander Yury Malyshev, flight engineer Gennadi Strekalov, and Sharma as a research cosmonaut. It docked with the Salyut 7 orbital station, and Sharma spent 7days, 21hours, and 40minutes aboard the Salyut 7 during which his team conducted scientific and technical studies which included forty-threeexperimental sessions. His work was mainly in the fields of bio-medicine and remote sensing.

Awards and decorations Sharma was conferred the honour of the Hero of the Soviet Union upon his return from space, and is the only Indian to have been conferred this honour. India also conferred its highest peacetime gallantry award, the Ashoka Chakra, on him and the twoSoviet members of his mission, Malyshev and Strekalov.

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Popular culture A biographical Hindi-language film titled Saare Jahaan Se Achcha (formerly Salute), is under pre-production since 2018.