First Indian Space Tourist

Current Context : India-born Gopi Thotakura became the first Indian citizen to venture into space as a tourist.

• He was part of the elite crew for Blue Origin’s New Shepard-25 (NS-25) mission, a company founded by Amazon owner Jeff Bezos.
• Thotakura was selected as one of the six crew members for the NS-25 mission, making him the first Indian space tourist and the second Indian to venture into space after the Indian Army’s Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma in 1984, who went to Salyut 7 space station on a Soviet spacecraft in 1984.
• He will go beyond the Karman Line–the boundary that separates Earth’s atmosphere and outer space- and return to Earth.