New Delhi (NVI): NASA has selected an initial team of 18 astronauts, including Indian-American astronaut Raja Chari, to form the Artemis Team for its manned mission to the Moon and beyond.
Nasa is sending 18 astronauts, comprising of nine men and nine women, to the moon’s surface for the first time since 1970s.
Vice President of the US, Mike Pence, introduced the members of the Artemis Team during the eighth National Space Council meeting at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari, 43, a graduate of the US Air Force Academy, MIT, and US Naval Test Pilot School, is the only Indian-American in the list.
He was selected by NASA to join the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class. He reported for duty in August 2017 and having completed the initial astronaut candidate training is now eligible for a mission assignment.
The US Naval Test Pilot School graduate worked on F-15E upgrades and then the F-35 development programme, before coming to NASA. Chari immigrated from Hyderabad.
The astronauts on the Artemis Team come from a diverse range of backgrounds, expertise, and experience. The agency’s modern lunar exploration programme will land the first woman and next man on the Moon in 2024 and establish a sustainable human lunar presence by the end of the decade.
NASA said it will announce flight assignments for astronauts later, pulling from the Artemis Team. The US space agency said that additional Artemis Team members, including international partner astronauts, will join this group, as needed.
The Artemis Team members also include Joseph Acaba, Kayla Barron, Matthew Dominick, Victor Glover, Warren Hoburg, Jonny Kim, Christina Hammock Koch, Kjell Lindgren, Nicole A. Mann, Anne McClain, Jessica Meir, Jasmin Moghbeli, Kate Rubins, Frank Rubio, Scott Tingle, Jessica Watkins and Stephanie Wilson.
-CHK
