From Flying Air Ambulance To Becoming Second Indian To Go To Space, Vijayawada-Born Boy Among Blue Origin's NS-25 Crew

Gopichand Thotakura is set to be India’s first space tourist and the second Indian to go to space after Rakesh Sharma as Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin announced him as one of the six crew members of the NS-25 mission.

NS-25 will be the first crewed mission for the company's fully reusable New Shephard rocket since NS-22 in 2022. However, its date is yet to be announced.

Thotakura was born and raised in Andhra Pradesh's Vijayawada and is a graduate of Aeronautical Science from Florida's Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University.

He has also done a bachelor’s in business administration but always aspired to be a pilot and an astronaut. As a trained pilot, he flew bush planes and hot air balloons and instructed in seaplanes in the US.

On coming back to India, he flew for medical evacuation and air ambulance. He then did the same thing internationally, covering 52 countries.

Thotakura told The Economic Times that he started to work towards putting an Indian in space and had a call with Blue Origin. However, he faced a decline initially.

Later, he got into a contract with Blue Origin but couldn’t tell anyone about this until the company announced its next New Shepard mission. However, he did not disclose how much it cost him.