Rakesh Sharma : The first Indian to fly into space

Rakesh Sharma was born on January 13, 1949 in Patiala, Punjab. He was a squadron leader with the Indian Air Force, when he flew into space in 1984 as part of a joint programme between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Soviet Intercosmos space program.  He joined two other Soviet cosmonauts aboard the Soyuz T-11 spacecraft which blasted off on April 2, 1984.