On April 2, T.N. Suresh Kumar achieved what some of us can only dream of.
The senior scientist of ISRO’s Master Control Facility in Hassan, took a ride in a zero-gravity flight from the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Moscow. This was a fulfilment of his long-cherished dream, a step up for his last year’s feat, when he became the first Indian to visit the stratosphere — the second layer of the Earth’s atmosphere.
Then, he had made it to an altitude of 17,100 metres from the Sokol Airbase near Nizhny Novgorod in Russia.
This time, he spent $ 5,400 for the flight, covering an altitude of around 8,500 m.
Mr. Suresh Kumar, who has travelled to 114 countries, told The Hindu over the phone: “I took the Indian flag and my mother’s photo for the flight as it was a memorable event in my life. I was one among 15 members from different countries.
We took the flight after completing medical fitness tests.
Only those who are fit physically and understand the instructions given at the training centre can take the flight.”
He lived with the passion to take the flight after he missed a chance to be part of ISRO’s team to visit space in 1986.
The visit was cancelled following the explosion of space shuttle Challenger.
He will return to India on April 18.
Mr. Suresh Kumar’s wife, Geetha, is also a scientist at the MCF.
They save a major portion of their salary for travel.
Geetha has also visited more than 90 countries.
Their daughter, Raksha, has visited more than 45 countries.
His family had accompanied him to Moscow.
While Geetha and Raksha have returned to India, Mr. Suresh Kumar continued on his visit to central Asia.
“We are budget-travellers. We book tickets in advance and carry ready-to-eat food to reduce expenditure,” he said.
