Commemorating 40th Anniversary of first Indian in Space
By IAR Desk
April 3, 2024: Forty years ago on this day in 1984, Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to travel to space. This day is etched in the minds of all Indians when India made its first steps in space. In particular, Sharma’s response to then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s question on how India lo9ked from space: “Saare Japan se accha” captured Indian hearts.
Sharma went to space as part of a Soviet space mission. In 1984 the Soyuz-U launch vehicle put into orbit the Soyuz T-11 spacecraft under the Intercosmos program. The crew consisted of Soviet cosmonauts Yuri Malyshev and Gennady Strekalov included India’s first cosmonaut, Rakesh Sharma.
Sharma’s flight became a bright testimonial to Indo-Soviet friendship, which included cooperation in space. Cooperation in space between India and the Uni9n of Soviet Socialist Republic and now the Russian Federation is legendary and varied. The Soviets helped the launches of India’s first satellite (Aryabhata) and subsequent experimental satellites (Bhaskara-I and Bhaskara-2); the orbit of India’s operational satellites (IRS-IA, IB and IC). They provided supply of satellite equipment like solar panels, batteries, and the cold-gas control propulsion system (for Aryabhata); and the supply of cryogenic stages for the Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV).”
This cooperation is continuing between the two countries. The four test pilots scheduled to fly on India’s indigenously manufactured spacecraft Gaganyaan, sometime this year or in 2025, have been undergoing training at Russia’s Gagarin Research & Test Cosmonaut Training Center in February 2020. In 2019 India and Russia signed an agreement on selection, support, medical examination and space training of Indian astronauts.
In 2023 India and Russia signed a second bilateral agreement to select and train astronauts for the Gaganyaan programme, with a budget of over $1.31 billion. This agreement establishes a technical liaison unit of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in Moscow with the task of realizing Gaganyaan and other projects, through collaboration with the space agencies of Russia and neighboring countries. Thus, the cooperation continues.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Sharma’s space flight the Russian House of Science and Culture in Kolkata,in collaboration with archives of Russian news agency TASS, mounted a unique exhibition dedicated to Sharma and the cooperation between India and Russia. A film from that time was also shown, while Sharma himself addressed the event via video, reminiscing of the days of training, the flight, and his time in the Soviet Union.
The event was also addressed by Mr. Alexei Idamkin, the Consul General of the Russian Federation in Kolkata, who outlined the collaboration between India and Russia in space, by Mr. Sergei Shushin, the Director of the Russian House of Science and Culture, and also by S. Dutta, curator of M.P. Birla Planetarium, who reminisced about his experience as a school boy when Sharma’s flight occurred.
The exhibition is on till 12 April.
