NASA’s Bill Nelson Delights In Meeting Cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma

BENGALURU (ANI) – National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Administrator Bill Nelson expressed delight at meeting students at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), and the first Indian to fly to space, Rakesh Sharma on November 29.

Nelson, who is on a visit to India posted, “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 on April 2, 1984, 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 India to become the 14th nation to travel to outer space. Sharma’s work was mainly in the fields of biomedicine and remote sensing.

He is remembered for his iconic response from space.

 When the then PM of India, Indira Gandhi asked Sharma how India looked from outer space, Sharma said “Saare Jahaan Se Achcha”.

Nelson during his visit has emphasized that India is a leader in space and has met with space officials to deepen bilateral cooperation across a broad range of innovation and research-related areas, especially in human exploration and Earth sciencease.

Nelson’s visit to India will fulfil a commitment as part of the US and India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology initiated by President Joe Biden.