First Person to become a Space Tourist from India – Gopi Thotakura 

Gopi Thotakura, an entrepreneur and a pilot, is set to become the first Indian to venture into space as a tourist on Amazon founder Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin’s NS-25 mission. 

Mr. Thotakura was selected as one of the six crew members for the mission, making him the first Indian space tourist and the second Indian to venture into space after the Indian Army's Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma in 1984.  

He was born and raised in Andhra Pradesh's Vijayawada and is a graduate of Aeronautical Science from Florida's Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University. He has also done a bachelor’s in business administration but always aspired to be a pilot and an astronaut. As a trained pilot, he flew bush planes and hot air balloons and instructed in seaplanes in the US.