Space

A space station, also known as an orbital station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is, therefore, a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. Stations must have docking ports to allow other spacecraft to dock to transfer crew and supplies.

As of 2021, there is one fully operational and permanently inhabited space station in low Earth orbit: the International Space Station (ISS), which is used to study the effects of spaceflight on the human body as well as to provide a location to conduct a greater number and longer length of scientific studies than is possible on other space vehicles. China's Tiangong Space Station is under construction. Both India and Russia have proposed to build stations for the coming decades.

Rakesh Mishra is an NRI based in U. S. His father had migrated to Texas and Rakesh was born and brought up in U. S.

Rakesh always wanted to be an astronaut. His dream was fulfilled in 2016 when NASA’s Astronaut Selection Board had reviewed his applications amongst others(a record-breaking 18,300 applications in 2016) and assessed his qualifications. He was then invited by the board as he was found to be amongst the most highly qualified candidates. For an interview, he was called at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Of those interviewed, about half are invited back for second interviews. Rakesh was on that list as well. From that group, Rakesh was one of NASA’s new astronaut candidates who were selected!

Rakesh reported for training at Johnson and spend the next two years learning basic astronaut skills like spacewalking, operating the space station, flying T-38 jet planes and controlling a robotic arm.

With NASA's plans for the future of exploration, Rakesh would be given the chance to fly farther into space than ever before on lunar missions and maybe the first humans to fly on to Mars.

Rakesh's dream of becoming an astronaut was thus fulfilled and in 2021 he went onto his first space travel to NASA's space station with a crew of five members. He would be spending six months aboard the space station doing different research activities.