Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, AC is an Indian cosmonaut and a former Indian Air Force officer. He flew aboard Soyuz T-11 on 3 April 1984 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme. He is the first Indian citizen to travel in space, although there have been other astronauts of Indian origin who travelled to space, who were not Indian citizens. Another Air Force pilot, Ravish Malhotra, was placed on standby.
After a gap of 41 years since Rakesh Sharma made history, India returns to space in a big way. Meet Shubhanshu Shukla, the first..