Oct 29, 2021
By: Shadab RabbaniUS Air Force fighter pilot Raja Chari will be the commander of SpaceX's Crew-3 flight.
Credit: Twitter/-Space-X
Raja Jon Vurputoor Chari was born to Peggy Egbert and Sreenivas V Chari in Milwaukee city of Wisconsin in the USA.
Credit: Twitter/-Matthias-Maurer
His father, Sreenivas V Chari, came to the US from Hyderabad to pursue a Master’s degree after graduation from Osmania University.
Credit: Twitter/-Roscosmos
Raja Chari graduated in aeronautics and astronautics from the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Credit: Twitter/-Space-X
He completed his master’s in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and also graduated from US Naval Test Pilot School.
Credit: Twitter/-Hayley-Esparza
Raja Chari became a NASA astronaut in 2017 and this will be his space flight.
Credit: Twitter/-Raja-Chari
Prior to joining NASA, he was a Colonel in the US Air Force, serving as the Commander of the 461st Flight Test Squadron.
Credit: Twitter/-NASA
While serving the US Air Force, he had over 2,500 hours of flight time in the F-35, F-15, F-16, and F-18.
Credit: Twitter/-Raja-Chari
Apart from Commander Chari, the other three astronauts on the flight will be Tom Marshburn, Kayla Barron and European Space Agency’s Matthias Maurer.
Credit: Twitter/-Space-X
The four-astronaut crew is expected to lift off to space on October 30 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Credit: Twitter/-Space-X