Our Bureau
Washington
Gopi Thotakura, an entrepreneur and a pilot, is selected as one of the six crew members for the Blue Origin’s NS-25 mission by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. He is set to become the first Indian to venture into space as a tourist and the second Indian to venture into space after the Indian Army’s Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma in 1984.
The flight date is yet to be announced, the aerospace company said.
This mission will be the seventh human flight for the New Shepard program and the 25th in its history. To date, the program has flown 31 humans above the Karman line, the proposed conventional boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. New Shepard is a fully reusable sub-orbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism by Blue Origin.
He is the co-founder of Preserve Life Corp, a global center for holistic wellness and applied health located near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. According to Blue Origin, “Gopi is a pilot and aviator who learned how to fly before he could drive.”
In addition to flying jets commercially, he pilots bush, aerobatic, and seaplanes, as well as gliders and hot air balloons, and has served as an international medical jet pilot.
A lifelong traveler, his most recent adventure took him to the summit of Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.
Vijaywada -born Thotakura is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Other crew members of the flight include Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller, and former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight, who was selected by President John F Kennedy in 1961 as the nation’s first Black astronaut candidate but was never granted the opportunity to fly to space.
