Indian Origin Astronauts Who Have Been To Space
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India has made its mark in the cosmos with a few remarkable individuals who have gone on various space missions
Rakesh Sharma, a former Indian Air Force Pilot and astronaut, made history as the first Indian citizen to travel to space
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Mr Sharma flew aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz T-11 on April 2, 1984. He spent 8 days in space, including time on the space station Salyut 7
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Kalpana Chawla was the first ever Indian woman in space. She was one of the six-member crew on STS-87 in 1997 and travelled over 10.4 million miles, as per NASA
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Tragically, in February 2003, during the re-entry of the space shuttle, disaster struck, resulting in the loss of all crew members, including Ms Chawla
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Sunita Williams was the second woman of Indian origin to go to space
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To date, Ms Williams holds a record for the maximum number of spacewalks done by a female. She has spent a total of 322 days in space on two missions
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Raja Chari is an American test pilot and NASA astronaut. He was born to Indian parents in Milwaukee, US
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Mr Chari's achievements include being part of the Artemis Team and successfully conducting an EVA (extravehicular activity) on the International Space Station
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Sirisha Bandla is the third India-origin woman to fly into space
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Ms Bandla joined Richard Branson and 5 others on board Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Unity to make a journey to the edge of space from New Mexico
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