Gopi Thotakura : First Space Tourist From India

Gopi Thotakura : First Space Tourist From India

Gopi Thotakura, an India-born commercial pilot based in the US, became the first space tourist from India. She, along with five other space tourists, made a short recreational trip to space.

• Space tourism is a niche segment of the aviation industry that seeks to give tourists an experience of space travel for recreational, leisure, or business purposes.
• Space travel begins at about 100 km altitude from Earth, after crossing the Karman line, which is widely accepted as the boundary line separating the Earth’s atmosphere from outer space.
• Anything flying below this altitude is called an aircraft while those crossing this line get classified as a spacecraft.
• Types:
  • Suborbital: Here, flights take passengers to the edge of space, where they can experience weightlessness for a few minutes.
  • Orbital: Here, flights take passengers into orbit around the Earth. This gives them a chance to see the planet from space and experience weightlessness for a longer period of time.
• In 2021, Virgin Galactic’s founder Richard Branson and Blue Origin’s founder Jeff Bezos first rocketed into space on brief suborbital flights.