Indian pilot and aviator Gopi Thotakura is one of the six crew members chosen for Blue Origin’s NS-25 mission, which is a space tourism mission. Blue Origin, an aerospace company founded by Jeff Bezos, is also a player in the space tourism industry. The date for the NS-25 mission has not been announced yet according to the press release issued by Blue Origin.
Gopi Thotakura, a graduate of the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, is a commercial pilot and entrepreneur. He flies bush and aerobatic aircraft, seaplanes, gliders, and hot air balloons, and has also been an international medical jet pilot. Thotakura will become the second Indian to go into space, after Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, who visited the Salyut 7 space station onboard a Soviet spacecraft in 1984.
The NS-25 mission includes former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight who was chosen as the first Black American astronaut candidate in 1961 but did not go into space. The rest of the crew are Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, and Carol Schaller. Read more about the mission here.