From Space, Tejas fighter to IT: India's first cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma shares untold stories of his 2nd innings after returning to Earth

India's first space hero, Rakesh Sharma, shared his post-space journey in a podcast with the Ministry of Defence, recounting how he returned to the Indian Air Force after his mission and later moved to the IT industry.

"And after few years, I moved to Hindustan Aeronautics Limited as their chief test pilot," he said, and recalled his association with the evolution of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) 'Tejas'. “Later I joined the IT industry. Life has been rewarding for me.”

Rakesh Sharma on space travel
Astronaut Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to journey into space in 1984, says space travel alters the mindset of humans and makes them see the world from a perspective that "this planet belongs to everyone" and not a sole preserve of anyone.


He shared his thoughts in a recorded podcast shared by the Ministry of Defence on a day India returned to space after 41 years, as Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla from India and three other astronauts set forth on a landmark space odyssey on Wednesday.

Sharma had spent eight days in orbit in the erstwhile Soviet Union's Salyut-7 space station in 1984.

Shukla scripted history by embarking on space travel, along with three others from the US, Poland and Hungary, to the International Space Station as part of a commercial mission by Axiom Space.

Asked about the future of Indian space travel, Sharma said, "We will be going farther and farther from planet Earth."

"We really need to preserve what we have, which means we need to end conflicts, we need to forget about our weapons....this planet belongs to everyone, it is not a sole preserve," he underlined.

On a more generic note, Sharma said space exploration will "keep marching ahead".

"I am hoping that India will be a modern leader in the years to come, and India will succeed in its (space) mission, which I am quite confident we will," he said.