By Girija Madhavan
The romance of space is always beguiling. Exploring the “Final Frontier” in science-fiction, television or films, foreshadowed the “Space Tourism” some millionaires experienced recently. The launch by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) of 104 Nano Satellites in one operation drew admiration; but the failure of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, after these successes was discouraging. Such events are news, but impersonal. I recall a visit to a space training centre in Moscow in 1983 when my husband was in the Indian Embassy. That memory has an emotive overlay to this day. In 1982, ISRO’s Space Programme and “Intercosmos” of the former Soviet Union decided on a joint space operation. Two Test Pilots of the Indian Air Force, Rakesh Sharma and Ravish Malhotra were chosen for this venture and sent with their families to Brezhnev Star City in the Moscow region to prepare for the event. In 1983 we were invited to visit our “Cosmonauts”, in Russian parlance, who were in training. It was a rare opportunity for us to visit Star City which, being a military installation, was heavily guarded and access curtailed. It was named “Zvyozdny Gorodok” and is the site of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre, operating from 1960 onwards. It has schools, medical and other facilities for the spacemen and their families. After driving through wooded countryside and clearing several check points, we were admitted inside to meet Cosmonauts Ravish Malhotra, Rakesh Sharma and his wife Madhu Sharma. Ravish Malhotra was a dashing and handsome young man in a red and white chequered shirt and white pants. He was six years older than his colleague Rakesh. Both were from Punjab. They were full of enthusiasm, grueling though the training was.
