Eco-warrior takes bird’s eye view of Earth

Houston: Aviator Gopi Thotakura has said that he is proud to become the first Indian to venture into space as a tourist aboard Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin's NS-25 mission.

Blue Origin's seventh human flight carrying Thotakura, 30, and five others lifted off from Launch Site One in West Texas on Sunday and landed successfully.

He is the first Indian space tourist and the second Indian to venture into space after the Indian Army's Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma in 1984. "India into space," he was heard saying from the spaceflight in a video posted by Blue Origin on X. He was also seen holding the small Indian flag.

The 30-year-old Andhra Pradesh-born entrepreneur, and pilot was also seen holding a banner which read "I am an eco-warrior for our sustainable planet". Other astronauts on the flight include 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.

All the crew members were excited to be on the flight. New Shepard has now flown 37 people into space, including today's crew.

This mission was the seventh human flight for the New Shepard programme and the 25th in its history. To date, the programme has flown 31 humans above the Karman line, the proposed conventional boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. New Shepard is a fully reusable sub-orbital launch vehicle developed for space tourism by Blue Origin.

According to Blue Origin, “Gopi is a pilot and aviator who learned how to fly before he could drive.” Gopi co-founded Preserve Life Corp, a global centre for holistic wellness and applied health located near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

In addition to flying jets commercially, he 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 in Tanzania.