US based Gopi Thotakura made history as he became the first Indian space tourist! Indian born and commercial pilot Gopichand Thotakura took off on May 19 and reached the edge of space on a Blue Origin spacecraft, along with five other crew members. The whole journey, from take off to landing lasted only about ten minutes, during which the spacecraft attained a maximum height of about 105km from the Earth.
The passengers got to experience weightlessness for a few minutes and observe the Earth from a height. One of the passengers on this Blue Origin spacecraft made history by becoming the oldest person to travel to space. American citizen, Ed Dwight, who is 90, described the experience as “life changing”.
What is Blue Origin?
Blue Origin is the space tourism project by Amazon owner Jeff Bezos.
Word Check
Space tourism is the term for people paying to go for a trip to space.