IAF Nikhil Rath Is Ready For Next Level Of ISRO Gaganyaan Mission

Nikhil Rath, the Wing Commander of the Indian Air Force (IAF) has managed to pass the preliminary astronaut selection round for ISRO Gaganyaan mission. It is expected to take place in the next three years, in 2022.

Odisha Sun Times reported that the Wing Commander from Balangir, Odisha has beaten other 24 test pilots in the preliminary list of candidates at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Bengaluru.

Rath will take part in the training course for the first manned mission to the outer space provided by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in 2022. When it comes to his family, his father is a senior lawyer in Balangir named Ashok Rath, and his mother, Kusum Rath, is now working for Women Commission.

On Twitter, the Indian Air Force wrote a post:

His father, Ashok Rath, said, as quoted by the Odisha Sun Times

His mother also expressed her pride for what Rath achieved:

After graduating at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Balangir in 1998, Rath followed an Intermediate at Delhi Public School (DPS) in 2000. As reported, he passed the entrance exam and became a cadet at the National Defence Academy (NDA). Three years later, in 2003, he participated in the Indian Air Force.

Back to the Gaganyaan Mission, this project is expected to take a crew of three members to space during at least 07 days in 2022. PM Narendra Modi first made an announcement on the mission in his speech on the Independence day 2019.

The spacecraft under development of the ISRO includes a crew module and a service module. These modules are collectively referred to as the Orbital Module.

In early 2018, the ISRO showcased the orange spacesuits and the crew model for the Gaganyaan mission at the 6th Bengaluru Space Expo (BSX). In terms of the spacesuits, they were created at Thiruvananthapuram’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. The Gaganyaan Programme’s total fund is about Rs 10,000 crore.