Astronomy:List of astronauts of Indian origin

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For Indian nationals in space, see List of Indian astronauts.

As of 2025, six people of Indian origin have been in space. The first astronaut of the Indian nationality, in space was Rakesh Sharma on Soyuz T-11 in 1984.[1][2] Three astronauts – Kalpana Chawla,[3][4] Sunita Williams,[5] Raja Chari[6][7][8] – flew as NASA astronauts. Williams with three spaceflights, have the record of most number of spaceflights by an astronaut of Indian origin.[9][10] Williams and Chari are the only astronauts to have made long-term spaceflights.[10][11]

Sirisha Bandla is the first and only Indian-born woman to make a suborbital flight as a space tourist, which she did on Virgin Galactic Unity 22 on July 11, 2021.[12][13][14]

Astronauts

Orbital

No. Image Name
Birth date 		Ancestry Birth Comment Missions
(Launch date) 		Time in Space
1 80px Kalpana Chawla
March 17, 1962 		 India First Indian American in space and First Indian origin woman in Space. Died on the Columbia. United States STS-87 (November 19, 1997)
United States STS-107 (January 16, 2003) 		31 days, 14 hours, 54 minutes
2 80px Sunita Williams
September 19, 1965 		 India  United States Served on ISS Expedition 14/15, Expedition 32/33 and Expedition 71/72. Second female commander of ISS. First female astronaut to fly on an orbital spacecraft's maiden flight, i.e., Boeing Starliner. United States STS-116/117 (December 9, 2006)
Russia Soyuz TMA-05M (July 15, 2012)
United States Starliner Crewed Flight Test/SpaceX Crew-9 (June 5, 2024) 		608 days, 20 minutes
3 80px Raja Chari
June 24, 1977 		 India  United States Selected in 2017 to NASA Astronaut Group 22. United States SpaceX Crew-3 (November 11, 2021) 176 days
4 80px Anil Menon
October 15, 1976 		 India  United States Selected in 2021 to NASA Astronaut Group 23. Russia Soyuz MS-29 (March 2026)
(planned) 		N/A

Space Tourists

Suborbital

No. Image Name
Birth date 		Ancestry Birth Comment Missions
(Launch date) 		Time in Space
1 Sirisha Bandla
1988 		 India Second Indian-born woman to fly to space, First Indian-American space tourist. United States Virgin Galactic Unity 22
(July 11, 2021) 		14 minutes, 17 seconds
2 Andy Sadhwani
1988 		 India  United States Principal Propulsion Engineer at SpaceX United States Galactic 07
(June 8, 2024)[15][16] 		15 minutes, 10 seconds
3 Tushar Shah
? 		 India  United States a MIT graduate and Particle Physicist United States Blue Origin NS-30
(February 25, 2025)[17] 		10 minutes, 8 seconds
4 Arvinder (Arvi) Singh Bahal
October 13, 1945 		 India Indian-born real-estate investor, adventurer and private pilot. United States Blue Origin NS-34
(August 3, 2025) 		10 minutes, 8 seconds

References

  1. ↑ "Cosmonaut Biography: Rakesh Sharma". Spacefacts.de. http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/international/english/sharma_rakesh.htm. 
  2. ↑ "Rakesh Sharma". Mapsofindia.com. http://www.mapsofindia.com/who-is-who/miscellaneous/rakesh-sharma.html. 
  3. ↑ Salim Rizvi (11 December 2006). "Indo-US astronaut follows Kalpana's footsteps". New York: BBC. https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6169111.stm. "Almost four years after the death of the first American astronaut Kalpana Chawla in the Columbia space shuttle disaster, Nasa has sent another woman of Indian origin into space." 
  4. ↑ Nola Taylor Redd. "Kalpana Chawla: Biography & Columbia Disaster". Space.com (Tech Media Network). http://www.space.com/17056-kalpana-chawla-biography.html. 
  5. ↑ NASA (2007). "Sunita L. Williams (Commander, USN)". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/williams-s.pdf. 
  6. ↑ Garcia, Mark (February 7, 2018). "Astronaut Candidate Raja Chari" (in en). NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/raja-chari/biography. 
  7. ↑ Harwood, William (June 7, 2017). "NASA introduces 12 new astronauts". CBS News (CBS Broadcasting). http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-new-astronauts/. 
  8. ↑ Mars, Kelli (December 3, 2021). "NASA Astronaut Candidate Anil Menon". http://www.nasa.gov/astronauts/biographies/anil-menon/biography. 
  9. ↑ "Biographical Data". https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/chawla_kalpana.pdf?emrc=b7b7dd. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Sunita L. Williams – NASA" (in en-US). https://www.nasa.gov/people/sunita-l-williams/. 
  11. ↑ "NASA Astronaut: Raja Chari – NASA" (in en-US). https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/astronauts/raja-chari/. 
  12. ↑ "Sirisha Bandla: India celebrates woman who flew on Virgin Galactic" (in en-GB). BBC News. 2021-07-12. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-57801518. 
  13. ↑ "Family of Indian-American astronaut on Virgin Galactic crew "happy and overwhelmed"". 2021-07-05. https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/family-indian-american-astronaut-virgin-galactic-crew-happy-overwhelmed-2021-07-05/. 
  14. ↑ Madhok, Diksha (12 July 2021). "Sirisha Bandla, India-born woman and Virgin Galactic executive, flies into space with Richard Branson". https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/12/tech/sirisha-bandla-virgin-galactic-intl-hnk/index.html. 
  15. ↑ Jonathan McDowell [@planet4589] (8 June 2024). "Galactic 07 was dropped and fired its rocket engine at about 1526:30 UTC and landed at around 1541 UTC. Apogee not yet known.". https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1799468227447476573. 
  16. ↑ "'Galactic 07' mission launch window opens June 8". Virgin Galactic (Press release). 1 May 2024. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  17. ↑ "Blue Origin's New Shepard Completes 30th Mission to Space". 25 February 2025. https://www.blueorigin.com/news/new-shepard-ns-30-mission. 



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