Orbiting Out of Vijayawada: Entrepreneur and Pilot Gopichand Thotakura to Become First Indian American Space Tourist

Atlanta-based entrepreneur and pilot Gopichand Thotakura is one of six crew members selected for Blue Origin’s New Shepard- 25 (NS- 25) mission. He will be the first Indian space tourist and the second from the country to venture into space after the Indian Army’s Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma in 1984. Headquartered in Kent, Washington, Blue Origin, founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, is an aerospace manufacturer, defense contractor, launch service provider and space technologies company.

Described by Blue origin as “ a pilot and aviator who learned how to fly before he could drive,” Thotakura is originally from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh. He co-founded Preserve Life Corp, a global center for holistic wellness and applied health located near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. In addition to flying jets commercially, he “pilots bush, aerobatic, and seaplanes, as well as gliders and hot air balloons, and has served as an international medical jet pilot,” his Blue Origin profile said. A lifelong traveler, his most recent adventure took him to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. His journey began at Sarala Birla Academy in Bengaluru, followed by a Bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Sciences from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida.

In an interview with news agency Asian News International (ANI), Thotakura said he “was always very keen to become an astronaut.. After “flying in India and abroad,” he “started looking for opportunities where the original dream can come alive.” That is when he got the opportunity with Blue…NH24, and “we will be going to lower earth orbit in the near future”

He said he cannot express his feelings on being selected for the mission, “because it is something that is not in the urban dictionary. It is something I take with me. I always tell people that right from when you are born till the time you leave, you wake up and want to see the sky, want to take a breath, but I want to have this opportunity to do the reverse, to go up there and see down here. Movies do a fantastic job but (to see) what the naked eye can see, you have to do that yourself. The whole excitement is about looking back and seeing what’s going on, without being documented or without someone else’s eye.” 

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He believes that space tourism is where the future is, he told ANI. But at the same time, he said “the mission for Blue Origin or any other company is to make it affordable.” However, one dissent know what that number is, he admitted, but added that “Blue Origin has tied up with NASA to open a private International Space Station to grow space tourism and get into that sector.”

Accompanying Thotakura is astronaut Ed Dwight, Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L Hess, and Carol Schaller. This will be Blue Origin’s seventh crewed suborbital space flight, offering passengers a glimpse of outer space before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.