Those who grew up in the 1970s or before will remember the question and answer immortalised in space.
“Aapko India kaisa dikhta hai?”
The answer: “Saare jahaan se achha”.
The first Indian cosmonaut in space, Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, quoted poet Iqbal when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi asked him the question 40 years ago.
The Russian Centre for Science and Culture celebrated the 40th anniversary of Sharma’s launch into space on April 3, 1984, with an exhibition of black-and-white photographs that the consulate said “have never been displayed before”.
The exhibition, on till April 12, was inaugurated on Wednesday by Alexey Idamkin, consul general of Russia in Kolkata. Sharma joined in virtually.
Sharma said: “I was just 35 when I had the chance to fly into space after having trained at Star City, and 40 years have passed. You can see what 40 years have done to me (pointing to his bald pate) when you see my photographs at the exhibition.”
Calling the 40 years since his space flight as “extremely productive for our country and our relationship” with the then Soviet Union, now Russia, Sharma said: “Our four astronaut designates who are getting ready to go up into space were trained at the same place where I received my training. They also trained at Star City and are back now, presently training in the simulators that will train them to operate the Indian spacecraft.”
Sharma was excited to welcome more Indian astronauts to the elite space club as the country prepares for the Gaganyaan mission, which is the country’s first human space flight mission.
The mission aims to launch a crew with up to three members into a Low Earth Orbit and bring them back after a space flight.
Comparing the training he underwent in Russia in the 1980s to those that the current crop underwent, Sharma said: “I think the training primarily was the same because apart from the technology, which hasn’t changed much except for the improvement in displays and utilising more components which are much more reliable, the human beings have not changed. The way we conditioned our body for the rigours of space travel, hasn’t changed.”
On display are photographs put together by Russian News Agency TASS with the Russian House and the Russian embassy in New Delhi. The photographs include ones showing Sharma with co-astronauts Yury Malyshev and Gennady Strekalov in their space suits, taken by TASS before their space flight on March 1, 1984.
Sharma trained at Star City, along with co-pilot Ravish Malhotra. There are photographs of Sharma and Malhotra in the simulator at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City. There are also photographs of Sharma training with Soviet cosmonauts in the Black Sea in 1983.
Sharma feels when the Gaganyaan mission happens next year, people will see for themselves the differences in space flights. “I don’t expect too many differences,” said the retired wing commander.
He encouraged the young generation to get inspired by space-related sciences and contribute in the future to the Indian space programme and further exploration of deep space.