'Absolutely...': India’s first man to travel to space, Rakesh Sharma, hints at flying again. Here's what he said

Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma (Retd), India’s first astronaut to travel to space, has expressed his full support for the Gaganyaan mission and said that, given the chance, he would have loved to fly into space again.

Sharma—who flew aboard the Soviet Soyuz T-11 in 1984—was asked if he would join India’s maiden manned space mission. He said, “Of course, absolutely. I'm a test pilot. I think I was born a bit too early. It's not going to happen in my time frame. But yes, I would have, " he was quoted saying to NDTV.

The Gaganyaan mission, scheduled for launch between 2025 and 2026, is a landmark initiative under ISRO's human spaceflight project. It aims to send a three-member Indian crew into low-Earth orbit for up to three days aboard the GSLV Mk III, now known as the Human Rated Launch Vehicle Mark-3, from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

Sharma also shared his excitement over Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla’s upcoming Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station, calling it “a sneak peek” at what India’s own Bharatiya Antariksh Station might look like in the future.

"It will give us a flavour of flying a private resource which can take us to space. So it's going to be very interesting at many levels," Sharma said.

"He's going to get a chance to do some experiments and also to live in the space station. It's a longish flight, 14 days I think. And so he's going to get a sense and I think those inputs which he observes in the International Space Station can be used for our own Bharatiya Antariksh Station," Sharma further added.

Sending his best wishes to Group Captain Shukla, the retired Wing Commander reflected on the transformative nature of space travel.

"Well, I tell Shubhanshu all the very best, happy landings and look forward to whatever you're going to see. You come back a changed person is what I'm going to tell him... I would say over the years, maybe not instantly, but over the years when you go over that experience, it brings in new insights as to what's happening to planet Earth. It gives you a sense of where you should be going, where space exploration should be going. So that it does change you," Wing Commander Sharma said.