Who is Gopichand Thotakura? India’s first space tourist returns home

Gopichand Thotakura, India’s first civilian space tourist, on Monday (August 26) received a warm welcome in New Delhi as he returned to the country.

Thotakura was part of a six-member crew that travelled to space on May 19 with Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ company – Blue Origin.

This was Blue Origin’s seventh human flight, NS-25, and overall 25th flight as part of its New Shepard programme.

Along with Thotakura, 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 never had the opportunity to fly, travelled in NS-25.

As per Blue Origin, nearly 99% of New Shepard’s dry mass is reused, including the booster, capsule, engine, landing gear, and parachutes. New Shepard’s engine is fuelled by highly efficient liquid oxygen and hydrogen. During flight, the only byproduct is water vapour with no carbon emissions.

Who is Gopichand Thotakura?

After arriving in Delhi, 30-year-old Thotakura told news agency ANI, “The feeling has been awaited for a long time so I'm very happy to be back home. It's a proud moment for India as well and I am honoured to be representing the country. It is great to be home and see my parents and grandparents at home.”

“We are really excited for everybody else to go and do something in space - whether with Blue Origin or any other organisation,” he added.

According to Blue Origin’s website, Thotakura is a pilot and aviator who learned how to fly before he could drive. He’s co-founder of Preserve Life Corp, a global centre for holistic wellness and applied health located near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the US.

In addition to flying jets commercially, Thotakura pilots bush, aerobatic, and seaplanes, as well as gliders and hot air balloons, and has served as an international medical jet pilot. A lifelong traveller, his most recent adventure took him to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. He is a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, USA, it added.

Thotakura was born in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. He is the second Indian after Rakesh Sharma to travel to space.

Space tourism

He said space tourism is the future. “The mission for Blue Origin or any other company is to make it affordable. What the affordable number is, we still don’t know but to make it affordable… I believe that space tourism is where the future is,” Thotakura told the news agency.

Next flight

On August 23, Blue Origin announced its eighth human flight, NS-26, will lift off from Launch Site One in West Texas on Thursday, August 29.