First Indian common man in space, Gopichand Thotakura returns home after trip

India's first civilian in space after Rakesh Sharma, Gopichand Thotakura, returned to the country on Monday to a raucous welcome in New Delhi. The US-based wellness entrepreneur said that he was honoured to have represented the country on the mission and is now happy to be back home.

"The feeling has been awaited for a long time so I'm very happy to be back home. It's a proud moment for India as well and I am honoured to be representing the country..It is great to be home and see my parents and grandparents at home," he told ANI.

Thotakura further expressed excitement at the possibility of more ordinary citizens exploring space in the future.


"We are really excited for everybody else to go and do something in space - whether with Blue Origin or any other organisation," he said while speaking with the news agency. "When you look back and see the real beauty of the majestic blue ball that puts things into perspective...It is a short tourism-driven flight journey, the real wow factor is when you look back...It was absolutely amazing."


Thotakura, 30, was born in Vijayawada and is currently the co-founder of Preserve Life, a multi-million-dollar wellness centre being developed on the outskirts of US' Atlanta, but has retained his Indian passport.

He became the second Indian to be chosen for a mission to space after former Indian Air Force pilot Rakesh Sharma. He went on the mission via Amazon founder billionaire Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin capsule, the New Shepard-25 (NS-25).

It marked the 25th successful mission for Blue Origin and carried a crew of six - Gopi Thotakura, Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller, and former US Air Force Captain Ed Dwight, bringing the total tally of New Shepard's crew to 37.

"A big thank you to our astronaut customers for the opportunity to provide this life-changing experience,” Phil Joyce, Senior Vice President, New Shepard, had said. “Each of you are pioneers helping to advance our mission to build a road to space for the benefit of Earth.”

Can you register to fly to space?

Space flights for citizens have been a major aim for space companies. The ability to send not just astronauts but ordinary citizens is becoming more a reality now.

US-based Space Exploration and Research Agency (SERA), in collaboration with Blue Origin last month announced India as a partner nation in their human spaceflight programme for citizens from countries who have sent few or no astronauts to space, ET had reported.

SERA will offer citizens from across the world six seats on a future mission of New Shepard, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin’s reusable suborbital rocket.

Any Indian citizen can register for the programme by paying a fee of ~$2.50 (Rs. 209) to cover the costs of verification checks that ensure safe and fair voting. The final candidates will be voted on by the public for an opportunity to fly to space onboard the New Shepard mission.

Citizen requirements for space-flights

The potential astronauts will be required to meet Blue Origin's physical requirements. They can garner votes by telling their story to the public using their mission profile pages, social media, and other resources, ET had reported earlier.

The astronaut chosen by the public must be 18 years of age or above, should be able to speak basic English for safety protocols, needs to be able to ascend a few stairs and ingress and egress from a seat.