NASA Manned Moon Mission: Indian-American astronaut Raja Chari part of 18 member team, Netizens cheer
Raja Chari along with 17 other astronauts, will form the Artemis Team and help pave the way for the next lunar missions.
Indian-American astronaut Raja Chari is among 18 astronauts who have been selected by NASA for its ambitious manned mission to the Moon and beyond. Chari along with other astronauts, will form the Artemis Team and help pave the way for the next lunar missions, including sending the first woman and next man to walk on the lunar surface in 2024.
Vice President of the US Mike Pence introduced the members of the Artemis Team on Wednesday during the eighth National Space Council meeting at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.
"I give you the heroes who will carry us to the Moon and beyond - the Artemis Generation," said Vice President Mike Pence. "It is amazing to think that the next man and first woman on the Moon are among the names that we just read. The Artemis Team astronauts are the future of American space exploration and that future is bright," he said.
Sharing the news on Twitter, Chari wrote, "Proud to be a small part of the huge @NASA team working to get humans to the moon to stay. We need explorers, engineers, and dreamers to get #Artemis there."
Soon after, netizens took to social media to congratulate Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari, an Indian-American US Air Force colonel, after he was selected by NASA for its ambitious manned mission to the Moon on December 9.
The astronauts on the Artemis Team come from a diverse range of backgrounds, expertise, and experience. NASA'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.
Who is Raja Chari?
- Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari is an Indian-American astronaut.
- Raja Chari joined the astronaut corps in 2017. A colonel in the US Air Force, he was raised in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
- He received a bachelor's degree in astronautical engineering and a master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics.
- The US Naval Test Pilot School graduate worked on F-15E upgrades and then the F-35 development programme, before coming to NASA.
- Raja Chari's father Sreenivas V Chari immigrated from Hyderabad.