Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: After Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected yet another Indian-American, Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari, for a major space mission.
Chari, a US Air Force colonel, is among 18 astronauts, half of them women, selected by NASA. He will be part of the group to go on an ambitious manned mission to the Moon and beyond, media reported on Friday.
Earlier, NASA had selected Kalpana Chawla, the first woman of Indian origin to go into space. On February 1, 2003, as the world, including millions of Indians, waited for the return of the Space Shuttle Columbia flight STS-107, it disintegrated over Texas during its re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. The disaster killed the seven-member crew, including Kalpana, whose death was mourned globally.
The second Indian-American astronaut was Sunita Lyn Williams. A US Navy officer, she created a world record by seven spacewalks by a woman, totaling more than 50 hours. In 2012, she served as a flight engineer on Expedition 32 and then commander of Expedition 33.
In its next Moon mission, NASA plans to land a man and the first woman there in 2024 with the aim of setting up a human presence on the Earth’s natural satellite by 2030.
With this objective, NASA, on Wednesday, named the 18 astronauts who will train for its Artemis moon-landing program.
Raja Chari, 43, a graduate of the US Air Force Academy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and US Naval Test Pilot School, is the only Indian-American on the list.
In 2017, NASA had selected him to join the Astronaut Candidate Class for initial astronaut training. The astronauts on the Artemis Team hail from a diverse range of backgrounds, expertise, and experience. Most of them are in their 30s or 40s. The oldest is 55, the youngest 32.
The selected astronauts will help NASA prepare for the coming Artemis missions, which will begin in 2021. They will also engage the public and industry on NASA’s exploration plans.