Thought Card – 13 – Jan – Birthday of Cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma – First Indian to travel into space in 1984 – Soyuz T-11

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Sharma was born in 1949  in Patiala, Punjab, India and was schooled at St. George's Grammar School, Abid Road, Hyderabad.
He joined the NDA as an Air Force cadet in July 1966. He was commissioned into the Indian Air Force as a Pilot Officer in 1970. In 1971 operations against Pakistan, he flew various missions in his MIG aircraft with distinction.
Sharma, then a Squadron Leader and pilot with the Indian Air Force embarked on a historic mission in 1984 as part of a joint space program between the Indian Space Research Organisation and the Soviet Intercosmos space program, and spent eight days in space aboard the Salyut 7 space station. He was conferred with the honour of Hero of Soviet Union upon his return from space. The Government of India conferred its highest gallantry award (during peace time), the Ashoka Chakra on him and the other two Russian members of his mission.

QUOTE:

In a famous conversation, he was asked by the then
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi  how India looked from
space, to which he replied, Saare Jahan Se Achcha,
(a reference to an iconic Urdu poem used in India's
freedom struggle, usually referred to as
'Saare jahaan se atchha Hindustan hamara, '
our land of Hindustan, is better than the entire world').

(Source: Wikipedia.org)

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