A brief profile of four astronauts of Gaganyaan mission who were introduced to the Nation by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at VSSC in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala on Tuesday. These four astronauts fill fly in India’s first human flight space mission Gaganyaan that would take place next year. Gp Capt Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair: Gp Capt Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair was born in Thiruvazhiyad, Kerala on 26 August 1976. He is alumnus of NDA and recipient of Sword of Honour at Air Force Academy. He was commissioned on 19 Dec 1998 in the fighter stream of IAF. He is a Cat A Flying Instructor and a Test Pilot with approx 3000 hrs of flying experience. He has flown variety of ac including Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Hawk, Dornier, An-32, etc. He is also the alumnus of United States Staff College and a DS at DSSC, Wellington and FIS, Tambaram.
He has commanded a premier fighter Su-30 Sqn. Gp Capt Ajit Krishnan: Gp Capt Ajit Krishnan was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu on 19 April 1982. He is alumnus of NDA and recipient of President’s Gold Medal and Sword of Honour at Air Force Academy. He was commissioned on 21 Jun 2003 in the fighter stream of IAF. He is Flying Instructor and a Test Pilot with approx 2900 hrs of flying experience. He has flown variety of ac including Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-21, Mig-29, Jaguar, Dornier, An-32 etc. He is also alumnus of DSSC, Wellington. Gp Catp Angad Pratap: Gp Capt Angad Pratap was born in Prayagraj on 17 July 1982. He is alumnus of NDA and was commissioned on 18 Dec 2004 in the fighter stream of IAF.
He is a Flying Instructor and a Test Pilot with approx 2000 hrs of flying experience. He has flown variety of ac including Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier, An-32 etc. Wg Cdr Shubhanshu Shukla: Wg Cdr Shubhanshu Shukla was born in Lucknow, UP on 10 Oct 1985. He is alumnus of NDA and was commissioned on 17 Jun 2006 in the fighter stream of IAF. He is a Fighter Combat Leader and a Test Pilot with approx 2000 hrs of flying experience. He has flown variety of ac including Su-30 MKI, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Hawk, Dornier, An-32 etc.