Ravish Malhotra Astronaut
Ravish Malhotra (Punjabi: ਰਵਿਸ਼ ਮਲਹੋਤਰਾ; born on 25 December 1943 in Lahore (now in Pakistan)) is a retired Air Commodore of the Indian Air Force. He became an Air Force test pilot, later stationed at the test center in Bangalore. He was also the Air Officer Commanding of Hindon Air Force Station near Delhi.In 1982, he was chosen to train for spaceflight in the Soviet Union's Intercosmos program. Malhotra served as backup for Rakesh Sharma on the Soyuz T-11 mission which launched the first Indian citizen into space, but unfortunately himself never went to space. Malhotra was awarded the Kirti Chakra in 1984.Malhotra is the Co-Founder & Chief Mentor of the aerospace division of Dynamatic Technologies.Background*Air Cmdr. Ravish Malhotra serves as the Chief Mentor of Dynamatic-Oldland Aerospace, a division of Dynamatic Technologies Limited and served as its Chief Operating Officer and SBU Head of Dynamic Aerospace. Air Cmdr. Malhotra joined the Indian Air Force and has a distinguished career in the Indian Air Force for over 30 years. He served as a member of the Indo-Soviet Space Mission in 1984 as part of the back up team and spent 2 years in Star City outside Moscow. He is also a qualified flying instructor and has been training pilots for the Air Force. He is heading a team of over 150 people who are working on the Su-30 programme as well as some of the indigenous projects like the Pilot less Target Aircraft and the new HAL Jet Trainer. Air Cmdr. Malhotra graduated from the USAF Test Pilots School, Edwards AFB in 1974.