Rakesh Sharma moots Yoga in space for fighting sickness

Vinay Shukla

Moscow, Apr 12 (PTI) Rakesh Sharma, India's first
cosmonaut wing commander wants the next Indian cosmonaut to
carry forward the "zero gravity Yoga" exercise to fight space
sickness, practised by him for the first time 25 years ago in
Soviet Salyut-7 orbital station.

"I had practiced yoga to endure space sickness, while
my two Russian colleagues had carried out their regimen for
this. However, the collected data was not compared. It would
be good if the next Indian cosmonaut continues zero gravity
yoga practice, so that we can obtain more data," Sharma said
at a meeting with the Indian community.

Rakesh is here to mark the 25th anniversary of the
Indian cosmonaut's maiden space flight aboard the Soviet Soyuz
T-11 spacecraft on April 2, 1984 to Salyut-7 orbital station,
where he spent eight days carrying out various experiments
including multi-spectral photography of northern India in
anticipation of the construction of a dam in the Himalayas.

Sharma, said under the ISRO's ambitious manned space
flights programme 'very soon' another Indian cosmonaut will
travel to space, again on a Russian spaceship.

Sixty-year old Sharma, decorated with the ex-Soviet
Union's highest award 'Hero of the Soviet Union' and Ashok
Chakra, is the only surviving member of the Soyuz T-11 crew,
as his commander Yuri Malyshev and Flight Engineer Gennady
Strekalov are no more.

Welcoming Sharma at a function organised by the local
Hindustani Samaj, Indian Ambassador Prabhat Prakash Shukla
underscored that like 25 years ago, now also Russia will be
partnering India in its manned flights programme.

"This is a manifestation of traditional Indo-Russian
friendship and their sustained political, cultural and
technological cooperation," Ambassador Shukla said and noted
that the jubilee of the first Indian cosmonaut's space
voyage aboard Soviet-Russian spacecraft is being celebrated at
a time when Year of India in Russia is being marked.

He was invited to visit Russia by the families of his
Soviet crew-mates to mark the 25th anniversary of their joint
flight, which also coincides with the Day of Cosmonautics
celebrated on April 12, to mark the space flight of first
human - Yuri Gagarin this day in 1964. PTI VS
DEP