Soon you can meet Mallus in Space also.....

[Reji K John]

 

 

 

Keralite set to be India's first space tourist
15 Mar 2007, 0127 hrs IST,Ananthakrishnan G,TNN

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Santosh George Kulangara, a travel freak from a Kerala village will have the rare honour of being perhaps the first Indian tourist in space.

Global space tour operator Virgin Galactic just confirmed his reservation for the space flight sometime in 2008.

"I'm thrilled. It will be a historic moment. Space is the last destination known to man and I'm excited to be able to see it," Kulangara told TOI over the phone from his home in Marangattupalli in Kottayam district.

According to the letter from Virgin Galactic president Will Whitehorn, Kulangara has been allotted voyager reservation number 38.

The confirmation comes on a payment of $20,000. But that's only part of it. The total expense for the trip is $2, 00,000, roughly Rs 90 lakh.

"Some weeks ago, I got the welcome pack introducing me to the various aspects of the tour," a visibly excited Kulangara said.

"I will be travelling with five other tourists and two navigators. The tour operator has called a meeting in Paris in May this year, where I will be able to meet my fellow passengers," he said.

There will be no real landing in space, but we will be able to experience zero gravity and the re-entry of the spacecraft into the earth's atmosphere. The sojourn in space will last only 2-3 hours," Kulangara explained.

The take off will be from the US. Virgin's craft for the sub-orbital flight is being put to shape at Rutan's base in Mojave, California.

"What I'm told is that it will be ready by the end of 2007. Then there will be a week-long training programme. The actual journey will take place sometime in mid-2008."

Kulangara confessed that he had not broken the news even to his two children. "Only my wife and a few friends know about this," Kulangara said adding that his wife Soncy was stunned by the news.

"It's difficult to believe that an Indian can achieve such things," he said.

"My message to the younger generation is that if you have a dream, it is achievable," said Kulangara who hosts a popular travel show 'Sancharam' on local TV.

"People never believed when I said I had travelled 50 countries. But this proves, we can also do it."

"The tour operator has agreed to allow me to shoot the trip so that I can pass it on to the rest of the world," he said.

Kulangara is also a successful entrepreneur running one of the country's largest educational publishing houses.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1764412,prtpage-1.cms

Santhosh George Kulangara

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Santhosh George Kulangara, is the first space tourist from India, as he got a confirmed seat on Global space tour operator Virgin Galactic’s Spaceship tour program for 2008. Therefore, he is expected to grab the rare honor of being the First space tourist from India. The space flight is being designed to last two and a half hours in space, during which the spaceship will detach from the mother ship at 50,000 ft, the cruising altitude of Concorde. For this purpose, he underwent four days of training, including Zero gravity training at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. A specially designed aircraft was used for the training program.

He is also a notable traveler as he visited 55 countries in short span and his travelogue in various visits is being telecast known as 'Sancharam'. He published two books on his travels. He is also a business man ventured into the arena of education, tourism and Information Technology. He is the Managing Director of Labour India groups of companies. He is also the co-founder of Labour India Gurukulam Public School, International Gurukulam School in Wagamon. He is the Chairman and Managing Director of Supplement Communications (P) Ltd, an evening newspaper being published with breaking news and Labour India Software Laboratories etc. He is also the proud winner of the prestigious Kamal Patra Award for the Young Businessman for the year 2002 and also bagged several awards for his prestigious contributions to the Tourism and education sector. At present he is also very much interested in the preservation of Kerala's heritage and promoting it to the foreigners. For this purpose, he has built a Heritage Resort at Vaikom named 'Kerala Palace'.

He has got invitation by (former) President Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam who was his 'teacher' during the 20 minutes he spent with him in Rashtrapati Bhavan where he got some vital tips by president, before on board to space. Santhosh George was advised by President to make the programme in such a way that it would be 'informative' for the children.

Santhosh George Kulangara was born on December 25, 1971 in Marangattupilly village, Kottayam District, Kerala, India. He is married to Soncy and father of two children – Sarika and George. His father Mr. V.J. George Kulangara and mother Rosamma George.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santhosh_George_Kulangara

 

Santhosh George Kulangara Experienced Zero Gravity

Florida : Santhosh George Kulangara, the first Indian space tourist designate, has successfully completed the ‘zero gravity’ training. It was in the special aircraft named G Force One which took off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, USA that he got the training. The special training for zero gravity state was conducted at the fag end of the three-day-long training programme meant for the space tourists. The zero gravity training that started at one o’ clock IST on August 12, lasted for about four hours. The travellers on board were in zero gravity state for about one hour, during the training.
Besides Santhosh George Kulangara from India, two British and ten Americans had undergone the training during this time. There were also 12 other members inside the training vehicle, including trainers, technical experts and medical team. The G Force aircraft was taken to a height of 40,000 feet above the ground level and was brought down quickly to create zero gravity. During this time, the travellers including Santhosh George glided along inside the hall-like area in the aircraft. During these four hours the G Force aircraft went up several times and came down vertically. After each training flight, the medical team examined the travellers. Santhosh George was found ok in the medical examination.
Santhosh George said it was an exciting experience to glide inside the G-Force vehicle with the co-travellers. He has captured all these training sessions in his camera as well.
The training programme for the space tourists was organised by the Zero Gravity Corporation in association with Virgin Galactic. The same facilities used for training the NASA astronauts were used for training the space tourists.
The G Force vehicle took off from the same Space Port from where the Endeavour Space Shuttle had been launched to the International Space Station with seven astronauts recently. It was informed earlier that the zero gravity training might be postponed if the Endeavour launching faced any delay. Santhosh George said that he had seen the preparations for the re-entry of Endeavour there.

 

http://www.santhoshgeorge.com/space_mission.php