Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari: Here’s Everything You Need to Know About Indian-origin Astronaut Who Heads NASA’s Crew-3 Mission

New Delhi: Indian origin American citizen astronaut Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari, 43, is the Mission Commander of the Crew 3 mission, jointly launched by NASA and private rocket company Space X.Also Read – Crew-3 Mission: NASA, SpaceX Launch 4 Astronauts to International Space Station. Watch Video

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-3 mission is the third crew flight of the Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket developed by Elon Musk-led SpaceX Company. Also Read – NASA Completes Mega-Moon Rocket Stacking | Details Inside

The mission will carry four astronauts of Crew 3 to the International Space Station (ISS) from historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. Also Read – NASA Launches 12-Year-Long Mission Lucy to Explore Solar System Origin, Trojan Asteroids. All You Need to Know

The mission consists of NASA astronauts Raja Chari, mission commander, Tom Marshburn, pilot, and Kayla Barron, mission specialist and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Matthias Maurer, who also will serve as a mission specialist, to the International Space Station.

“It’s really mind boggling when you think about how much effort it takes to put people in space and then to sustain them in space.” — @Astro_Raja, Commander of the #Crew3 mission to the @Space_Station. pic.twitter.com/FGv5w46Q7a

— NASA (@NASA) November 10, 2021

Chari is a graduate of the US Air Force Academy, MIT, and US Naval Test Pilot School. He has over 2,000 flying hours which include F-35, F -15, F-16, and F-18. In July 2017, he was selected from over 18,300 applicants to be among 12 Members of NASA Astronaut Group 22. He also underwent two years of astronaut training from August 2017.

Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Chari was raised in Cedar Falls, Iowa. He is married to Holly Schaffter Chari, also a Cedar Falls native, and the couple has three children. His mother, Peggy Chari, lives in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

This will be Chari’s first flight to space, this US Air Force Colonel has extensive flight experience. He has also flown combat missions in Operation Iraqi Freedom and deployments in support of the Korean peninsula., Planetary Society Director Sri N Raghunandan Kumar said.

Chari’s father, Sreenivas Chari, did an engineering degree from Osmania University before moving to America. In 2010 Sreenivas Chari expired. Raja’s grandfather, a native of Mahabubnagar, was a Mathematics professor at Osmania University and died very early in 1955. Raja has visited Hyderabad thrice, where many of his close relatives live, he added.

In December 2020, the US government had announced an initial team of NASA astronauts – the Artemis Team consisting of 18 astronauts (9 male and 9 female), for the back to the moon “Artemis” Program. Astronaut Raja Chari was selected to be part of this group of astronauts who will pave the way for the next lunar missions.

The Artemis program is a United States-led international human spaceflight program. Its primary goal is to return humans to the Moon, specifically the lunar south pole, by 2024-25.

Written by: Surabhi Gupta

(Disclaimer: Surabhi Gupta is a journalist with more than decades of experience. She is writing freelance these days and is interested in science and astronomy).