National Aeronautics and Space
Administration or NASA administrator Bill Nelson expressed delight on meeting
students at the Indian Space Research Organisation or ISRO, and the first
Indian to fly to space, Rakesh Sharma on Wednesday.
Nelson, who is on a visit to Bharat,
said the story of Rakesh Sharma lit up the room.
Sharing on his social media X, NASA
Administrator stated, “It was a great honor to speak with students in Bengaluru
today with Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to fly to space. His story lit up
the room! To the Artemis Generation in India and beyond: Work hard, dream big,
and reach for the stars. The universe is the limit!”
Rakesh Sharma went on to become the
first Indian citizen to reach outer space on April 2, 1984, when he flew aboard
the Soviet rocket Soyuz T-11 launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh
Soviet Socialist Republic.
He spent 7 days, 21 hours and 40 minutes
in space and took Bharat to become the 14th nation to travel to outer space.
Sharma’s work was mainly in the fields of bio-medicine and remote sensing.
Sharma conducted several scientific
studies and experiments, his work including remote sensing and bio-medicine.
The crew even held a conference with officials from space. When the then PM of
India, Indira Gandhi asked Sharma how India looked from outer space, Sharma
said “Saare Jahaan Se Achcha”.
He said the most beautiful moments in
space were sunrise and sunset.
Meanwhile, Nelson touched down in Bharat
on Tuesday, expressing his enthusiasm for a week of meetings and events aimed
at strengthening the partnership between NASA and ISRO.
He emphasised that Bharat is a leader in
space and is looking forward to a productive visit.
Nelson will also be visiting the UAE for
a series of meetings with key government officials.
He will meet with space officials in
both countries to deepen bilateral cooperation across a broad range of
innovation and research-related areas, especially in human exploration and
Earth science, the American space agency NASA said in a release.
Nelson’s visit to Bharat will fulfil a
commitment as part of the US and India initiative on Critical and Emerging
Technology initiated by President Joe Biden.
ANI
