Two UP-born among 4 IAF officers selected for Gaganyaan

The four officers underwent rigorous training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia.

Among the four Indian Air Force (IAF) officers who would be on board Gaganyaan, India’s first manned space mission, two were born in Uttar Pradesh.

(Sourced)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday conferred ‘astronaut wings’ upon Group Captain Angad Pratap and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla, who were born in Prayagraj and Lucknow, respectively, at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre in Thiruvananthapuram. Group Captain Prashanth Nair and Group Captain Ajit Krishnan are other astronaut designates who were given the title by the PM.

The four officers have undergone rigorous training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia.

“Gp Capt Pratap was born in Prayagraj on July 17, 1982. He is an alumnus of National Defence Academy (NDA) and was commissioned on December 18, 2004 in the fighter stream of the IAF,” said Group Captain Samir Gangakhedkar, the public relations officer (Defence) in the Prayagraj region.

Gp Capt Pratap is a flying instructor and a ‘test pilot’ with approximately 2,000 hours of flying experience. He has flown a variety of aircraft, including Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier and An-32, the spokesperson added.

Wg Cdr Shukla was born in Lucknow on October 10, 1985.

“He is also an alumnus of NDA and was commissioned on June 17, 2006 in the fighter stream of the IAF. He is a fighter combat leader and a test pilot with approximately 2,000 hours of flying experience. He, too, has flown a variety of aircraft, including Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier, An-32,” added Group Captain Gangakhedkar. He was a 2001-batch student of City Montessori School’s Aliganj branch.

“The country has come to know about the four Gaganyaan passengers. These are not just four names. They are four powers who will take the aspirations of 140 crore Indians to space,” the Prime Minister said.

“Forty years later, an Indian is going to space. But this time, the timing, the countdown and the rocket belong to us,” he added.

Earlier, Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma (retired) went to space in 1984 as part of a Soviet mission.

The PM said that at a time when India was set to become the world’s third-largest economy, the Gaganyaan mission would take its space sector to new heights.