On Sunday, Gopi Thotakura, an entrepreneur and pilot, became the first Indian space tourist to fly aboard Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin’s NS-25 mission. Thotakura was chosen as one of the six crew members for the NS-25 mission, marking him as the first Indian space tourist and the second Indian to travel to space following Indian Army’s Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma in 1984.
The NS-25 mission, Blue Origin’s seventh human flight, took off from Launch Site One in West Texas on Sunday morning, as announced by the company on social media. Today, Blue Origin successfully completed its seventh human spaceflight and the 25th flight for the New Shepard program. The astronaut crew for this mission included Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller, Gopi Thotakura, and former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight.
Dwight, selected by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 as the nation’s first Black astronaut candidate, had never flown into space despite his selection. According to the company's statement, New Shepard has flown 37 individuals into space, including the crew from today's mission.