Blue Origin recently revealed the crew for its upcoming New Shepard launch, including an Indian citizen who has a shot at becoming the first space tourist from India. Entrepreneur Gopi Thotakura will be part of the six-person crew that will fly beyond the Karman line – the accepted boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space. But he isn't the only Indian with aspirations of private spaceflight.
Kerala businessman Santhosh George Kulangara has held a ticket with Virgin Galactic since 2007 after shelling out $1.8 million. While he's trained extensively, high-altitude test flights are still ongoing and he has yet to take the milestone trip. Should Thotakura succeed on the Blue Origin mission, he would pip Kulangara to the post of pioneering civilian space travel from India.
It's an open race to the stars between these entrepreneurs, but whoever goes will not be the first Indian in space overall. That title belongs to Rakesh Sharma, who orbited the Earth in 1984 as part of the Soviet Intercosmos programme. His week-long mission on Salyut 7 marked India's solo entry into space before dedicated launch vehicles were developed.
Meanwhile, a new study shed light on the age-old question of where heavy elements like gold and platinum come from. Researchers examining the aftermath of the powerful ‘BOAT' gamma-ray burst detected in 2022 found no signatures of these precious metals. This suggests they may not originate in supernova explosions as previously thought. The space-based mystery of their origin remains unsolved for now.
