space tourism santhosh kulangara

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After documenting travels to over 130 countries on Earth, Santhosh George Kulangara from Kerala heads to space

Kulangara is set to fly to space on one of Virgin's commercial space flights

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Dubai: It has been a long wait, of over 14 years, for traveller, media personality and entrepreneur Santhosh George Kulangara. But he feels that the interactions and experiences during the waiting period was as good as the promise of being one of the first to be on a flight to the edge of space.

Kulangara is one of the 600 people who signed up for the space tourism project by Virgin Galactic. On July 11, the founder of Virgin Group and Virgin Galactic, 71-year-old Richard Branson successfully completed the company’s first ever space flight with a 5-member crew on board. After this success, the first commercial flights carrying the early ticket holders, including Kulangara, are expected to start in early 2022.

And if a common man can fly to space, I should be the first person from India to go to space because I have taken travel as a profession - Santhosh George Kulangara

Kulangara is best known for his detailed video travelogues from his trips to over 130 countries. Initially screened as episodes as part of the show Sanchaaram (translates to journey in Malayalam) on Asianet, Kulangara now has his own channel called Safari TV. It was on one of his trips, in 2006, that Kulangara signed up to be a space tourist.

A train trip and a $250,000 ticket to space

Talking about how he first came to know about space tourism with Virgin, Kulangara said “I was on a train from London to Glasgow, on a private train of Virgin Group itself…”

“On the train some passenger left behind a newspaper, which I picked up and started reading. I found a curious news that Richard Branson, the owner of that very train, was planning a new venture that could take the common man to space. He had named it space tourism.”

“It was exciting news for me. This would mean anyone can travel [to space], he need not be a scientist or a technician or a fighter pilot… And [I thought] if a common man can fly to space, I should be the first person from India to go to space because I have taken travel as a profession. I thought I should be travelling for all Indians, to show, and share with them the experience.”

When he returned from the UK, Kulangara emailed the Virgin office in London informing them of his interest and explaining his background. In two days, he got a call from senior Virgin executives in London, and they had two to three long conversations.

“They explained what it is, what are the risk elements, and about how passionate I am… That was their first question, and I said it is not myself alone travelling… over one billion people would be travelling with me, Virgin will become a household name in India by the time I travel. So [I said], I will show them the experience of space travel, and they will enjoy space travel from their living room.”

In 2007, Kulangara was officially on the list and had included in his contract that he would take his own video equipment on the flight to document the one-of-a-kind trip. The ticket cost was US$250,000, over Dh918,248. The first 600 tickets sold by Virgin Galactic went for between $200,000 and $250,000 each, but the company has warned that the cost for future sales will go up.

Training and experience

Even though being a space tourist doesn’t have physical or training requirements as rigorous as astronauts, there is still some training involved. Kulangara did two training so far and this isn’t included in the ticket price.

He said, “I had my first training of zero gravity training at the Kennedy Space Centre, Florida…Me and 12 other trainees flew in aircraft designed to give the zero gravity experience.”

“It is a parabolic flight, it will take off and drop repeatedly, and every drop it creates a zero-gravity inside the aircraft. We had 40-50 drops and by the end of it we were all exhausted but it was a great experience, because we never knew what it would feel like. It was as if we were flying like a piece of cotton…”

“It was a wonderful experience but after it everyone also had a wonderful vomiting session…,” he laughed.

The second training was at the NASA centre in Philadelphia for G-tolerance or gravity tolerance which was tougher, Kulangara explained.

“It’s not just the space travel that’s exciting. Every moment of training, every get-together was special. Every time we would meet up, we would interact with great people like Richard Branson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and other Hollywood celebrities – in all our get-togethers, we would meet these celebrities. And we were a small group – we were just maybe a maximum of 200 people, we knew each other. So we would get enough time to interact.”

“Interacting with these kind of people is also an opportunity. That is also a profit or a benefit of this ticket, not just the space travel, but to have an interaction and association with these people and learn from them. These are the highlights of this space travel,” Kulangara added.

As of now the date of his flight to space has not been announced yet, but Kulangara expects it will not be far now.

The journey of ‘Sanchaaram’

It wasn’t easy for Kulangara to sell the idea of his video travelogues, especially during a time where there were no travel influencers and social media vloggers yet. After a degree in media, he wanted to be in the television industry and he started his career there.

Kulangara said, “But soon I realised that the conventional TV serials, documentaries, telefilms and all couldn’t excite me. That is not what I wanted. Then I thought what else I could do… I am always looking for something new…”

“Then I thought of my childhood days when we would have frequents tours across South India. My parents were teachers and they would travel with their students to different destinations in South India. So that passion was in me and I thought of starting a television show based on travel. A lot of travel shows were there but they all picturised places with words and letters.”

“The present medium was television. So with a camera I could share the views, the experience, the food, the culture with the viewers and they could enjoy the experiences from their living room,” he added.

“At that time it was a difficult task, we would have to carry huge cameras, we would need to take a lot of technicians with us. But I found a solution for that by acquiring all the technology which a television crew required so that I could do all the work of different technicians alone, myself.”

Planning this out, Kulangara said he found a way to travel solo, and bring back videos from the places he visited for viewers.

Family support and money to start

When he pitched the idea, Kulangara’s parents were clear about one thing. He said, “My parents had already stated that if you’re going on your own ways you have to find the fund for that yourself and we wouldn’t give you money.”

“So I made my own money from other activities, small businesses, and of course programs produced for Doordarshan, borrowed some money from my friends, that’s how I started the program.”

“They were definitely anxious about my future in this industry and as a television program maker…”, he added.

However, his family never disapproved of Kulangara’s interest in travel because the family had a love for travelling.

Lack of opportunities

His first trip for Sanchaaram was in 1997, to Nepal. But it would take another four years for Kulangara to get a TV show slot on Asianet because most channels at the time refused to believe that weekly travel videos were doable, especially by a single person.

“When I said I would travel around the world and bring you a video every week they couldn’t believe it, they didn’t trust me – they thought even international channels weren’t doing those [solo traveller] kind of videos, so how could a man like me do it?“ Kulangara said.

Kulangara said he didn’t even get many opportunities to pitch the idea because of this attitude from many channels and he added, “I was not so confident to talk to them after this.”

In 2001, Asianet agreed to take his videos when they launched Asianet Global. Kulangara added, “Even then, they never thought would continue with it. But I continued with it, for 12 years on Asianet with Sanchaaram. By that time it was a hit, everyone accepted the program. Asianet also didn’t want me to leave, but I had already decided to start my own channel.”

In 2013, Kulangara started his own channel called Safari– a channel dedicated to exploration and travel and to this day, free from any advertisements.

Family business

Kulangara and his family is best known for the Labour India group of establishments. Started by his father, George Kulangara, in 1983 the group started out as a publisher of educational journals and magazines ranging from the primary level to the higher secondary level courses. The group also has a school in Kottayam, Kerala called the Labour India Gurukulam International Residential School and Junior College.

Now, Santhosh George Kulangara is the Managing Director of the Labour India group and under his leadership, Labour India Publications Ltd. was transformed into Labour India Educational Research Centre which produces 30 educational journals. The company website says these journals have over 1.6 million readers.

Unique heritage resort, production studio

On an island that he owns on the Vembanadu lake near Cochin, Kulangara has successfully built a unique ‘heritage village’. He chose historically significant buildings between 100 and 250 years old from across Kerala, then uprooted the structures and rebuilt them on the island. It was briefly managed as a resort but Kulangara said in a recent interview that he would no longer be continuing that and was instead focusing on making it a place people could come visit for free or hold events for payment to cover the upkeep of the village.

The other project that is in the final stages is his 50,000 sq. feet production studio named the Safari Imagination Studio.

Kulangara said, “The entire visual media industry is my playground. So I am thinking bigger now. Now augmented reality and virtual reality are emerging. So television will grow that way and will merge with film, multimedia etc. For that we need better studios to create beautiful visual effects, and technology has to lead that.”

He added, “Construction is over and I am handling the final stages of the studio… It is ready for operations now. Just after the COVID-19 lockdown, we think we can inaugurate the studio.”

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Meet Kerala’s Santhosh George Kulangara, who could be India's first space tourist

After billionaires like jeff bezos and richard branson went to space last month, santhosh george kulangara is on his way to become india's first space tourist. .

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Kerala's Santhosh George Kulangara could be India's first space tourist via Virgin Galactic

Santhosh george kulangara was travelling on a train in the united kingdom when he saw the advertisement for richard branson's virgin galactic. it was in 2005..

Kerala's Santhosh George Kulangara is a 49-year-old man who had signed up from Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic back in 2005. And now, he could become India's first space tourist via Virgin Galactic. It is not yet known when the globetrotter who has visited 130 countries across seven continents will take off, but reports said he will be there in one of the early batches.

Here are 10 things you need to know about this media entrepreneur, globe trotter

1. In 2005, when he was in the UK, travelling on a train, he came across an ad in a newspaper. In this ad, Richard Branson was inviting people to join the space tour.

2. There were a few steps, interviews, following which he was enrolled as the first space tourist from India in 2007.

3. The trip will cost ₹ 1.8 crore approximately. But there are other expenses for training etc. He already took one training programme at the Kennedy Space Centre in 2011.

4. The training involved feeling weightless as it would happen in a zero-gravity situation and feeling heavier by six times etc.

5. Santhosh George Kulangara is a familiar face on Malayalam television and he is the founder and the managing director of Safari TV.

6. All his travels are telecast through Sancharam, which is known as the first visual travelogue in Malayalam. Santhosh George Kulangara has directed an English movie Chandrayaan. He began his solo journey across the globe in 1997.

7. The first country he visited was Nepal, followed by the Maldives. Then he went to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. He had crossed the India-Nepal border on foot from border village Sunoli.

8. Santhosh plans to carry his camera, his constant companion, to space, he has said in interviews.

9. On his website, he has mentioned "finance for every visit of mine was generated by my toiling day and night. My journey continues in that tradition".

10. Santhosh is also a part-time member of the Kerala State Planning Board.

• Virgin Galactic
• Richard Branson
• Space Tourism

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Malayali globetrotter all set to become first indian to fly on branson's space odyssey, top stories.

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New Delhi - Santhosh George Kulangara exudes excitement about the upcoming trip that he had signed up with Virgin Galactic in 2007

By joydeep sen gupta.

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Published: Fri 13 Aug 2021, 5:53 PM

Last updated: Fri 13 Aug 2021, 6:14 PM

Is Dh900,000 worth to splurge on travel? Well, if you are 49-year-old Santhosh George Kulangara, a media entrepreneur based in Marangattupally in India’s Kerala’s Kottayam district, megabucks aren’t a deterrent in powering his travel dreams.

Kulangara, a self-confessed globetrotter, who has travelled to 130 countries around the world — and some, including China, several times — had bought into British billionaire Richard Branson’s ambitious Virgin Galactic mission way back in 2007, when the space mission was, at best, dismissed as a pipe dream.

Now, weeks after the mission was launched in early July and a few initial hiccups later, Kulangara is all set to have been selected as the first Indian to explore space as a tourist.

He is likely to go on a space odyssey either at the end of this year, or early next year. “I’m not quite sure about the exact date, as only four persons are allowed on each mission. However, I know for sure that I’m the first and the only Indian to be on the Virgin Galactic mission,” Kulangara, who owns Labour India , a publishing house, and Safari TV , a channel dedicated to travel and exploration, told Khaleej Times.

Kulangara, who took to globe-trotting armed with a video camera in 1997, is an intrepid Malayali’s “inner eye” to the world at large, and has been an ardent advocate of space tourism for long.

As the global population inches towards the eight-billion mark at a rapid clip, the Keralite solo-traveller said “colonisation of other planets and space tourism are a logical conclusion in the near future”.

He could vividly recall how he got interested in Branson’s path-breaking concept.

“I was on a trip to the United Kingdom in 2005, when I saw a newspaper advertisement that was put out by Branson, inviting the public to join his company’s space tour. Immediately, I got hooked on the idea and corresponded with his company. There was the usual Indian red-tapism that delayed the process. But finally, I signed up as the first space tourist from India in 2007,” he said.

He felt that Branson’s maiden trip in July was a fitting reply to doubting Thomases and sceptics. “Not too many people believed me when I took the plunge in 2007. However, over time, the naysayers have been made to eat the humble pie. I’m at the cusp of a momentous occasion, as history was made in front of our eyes in early July and more such touristy space odysseys are being lined up in quick succession,” he added.

He said the enormous sum — Dh900,000 plus additional costs for training and miscellaneous expenses — are worth every penny.

He had already travelled to southern California’s Mojave desert, where he had a tête-à-tête with Branson.

“You pay for the experience, which is hard to come by. Conventional wisdom be junked because if followed the beaten path, then I wouldn’t be able to produce even a single episode of Sancharam , my travel show, which has crossed over 1,500 episodes,” said Kulangara, a rolling stone, who did not allow any moss to grow beneath his feet.

He had undergone extensive training a decade ago that had evaluated whether he was medically fit for the mission.

Fortunately, he had cleared all tests, including a zero-gravity training to make an aspiring space tourist feel weightless for a few seconds. Besides, the G-tolerance training was equally taxing as a human body weight was increased by six times and all the liquid in the system was sucked out.

Kulangara, who doesn’t believe in earning money is a route to material possession, travels light and cheap. He has stuck to his innate belief since his maiden trip to neighbouring Nepal in 1997.

However, a few countries and regions such as Amazon rainforests in South America are on his bucket list. Neither has he been to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or North Korea.

And like a man-about-town Malayali, who understands the bang for the megabucks, he managed to convince the Virgin Galactic authorities to make him shoot on his space odyssey.

He is clear in his mind that he wants the public back home to be able to watch the unique sights and sounds of his space travel.

It promises to be a Sancharam like no other.

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Kerala travelogue maker becomes India's first space tourist, all set to take the Virgin Galactic space flight

Santosh George Kulangara is a travelogue filmmaker from Kerala.

Key Highlights

• Santosh George Kulangara is all set to become India's first space tourist.
• He is a travel documentary filmmaker from Kerala that has travelled around 130 countries.
• Initially, the Virgin Galactic space flight was to take off in 2007 but due to a lot of issues, it was delayed.

Las Cruces, New Mexico:  The Virgin Galactic space passenger rocket called 'VSS Unity' is all set to take off from the New Mexico desert. Along with the British tycoon, Richard Branson, there are 50 more people that are trained to do so. 

The excitement around it has increased, especially for Indians all around the world. Shirisha Bandla will be the second India-born woman after Kalpana Chawla to be a part of a space flight, known as 'Astronaut 004.'

Not only that, the country is all set to get its first-ever space tourist as well in the form of a man named Santosh George Kulangara. The avid globetrotter from Kerala is going to fly in the space passenger rocket whose duration is 90 minutes and is a sub-orbital flight. 

Kulangara is known for his work as a documentary filmmaker. Each of them documents his travels around 130 countries in the world. He is also responsible for the first travelogue in Malayalam called 'Sancharam' that has its own YouTube channel as well.

It was in 2007 when he came across an advertisement about the possibility of a common man to go to space that was floating around in the British newspapers. The 49-year-old man approached the authorities after which he had to go through several rounds of interviews and tests and passed with flying colors. 

He was trained as well that involved The G Tolerance Training, zero-gravity training, and some regular breathing exercises. 

However, it is a known fact that this flight was delayed for several reasons over the years. From test mission failures to other plaguing issues that affected approval, it became impossible for it to blast off. 

Speaking to the Times of India, the filmmaker said, "We were initially told that it would happen by 2010. We had even finished zero-gravity training. But then, there were a few setbacks, including crashes of planes and the death of pilots. A few of the tourists even backed out."

Then, the pandemic came up otherwise the plane would have taken off. "I guess industrialist Jeff Bezos' recent announcement about his Blue Origin, also flying on July 20, further accelerated our project," he funnily added. 

He recounted it all in his video on YouTube that was shared last year. Now, Kulangara hopes to capture the breathtaking space experience with his camera. 

Bon voyage! We all wish you a happy galactical journey!

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From a bicycle to a space flight, Kerala's own globetrotter to take the giant leap

Coincidences are rare during Santhosh George Kulangara's journeys. He does his homework well and plans before he embarks on a visit. But his start to the space journey was pure happenstance.

Globetrotter Santhosh George Kulangara is the pride of Malayalis anywhere in the world. What could be the reason behind the success of his shows despite the lack of magical visuals? Maybe they are based on his experiences travelling the world. Maybe he has been introducing new ideas to the Malayali. Because the man from Kottayam's Marangattupilly has been there and done that. There are very few like Santhosh who spend so much time in vehicles but still he likes to say that he is not an auto enthusiast.

Starting from a bicycle "The vehicles that I am using now are quite old. Which means I haven't bought a new vehicle for a long time. All the vehicles that I own are lying in the garage. Even if I try to sell them, they won't fetch much; hence I am maintaining them. All of them are in running condition," he said.

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"My first vehicle was a bicycle. It was meant for the use of my father's press. When I was studying in class 9, he allowed me to use it. An Italian moped -- Avanti Garelli -- that I got when I was doing my pre-degree was my second vehicle. Designed like a bicycle, it had a 50cc engine. I used to push it around without taking it out on the roads."

"The third was a Lamby scooter. I used to go to the college on it. There was a Jeep in the family, but it was a Maruti Omni that I bought on my own for the first time. The Omni was around even during my wedding. Though I repainted it and redid the interior, it continued with its diehard habit of playing truant when the engine is cranked. I was left red faced on several occasions during my visits to my wife's house when it refused to start. After some time, I bought a Maruti 800 and a Maruti Zen. Later, SUVs became part of my garage. They included Toyota Qualis, Ssangyong Rexton and Lexus LX," he said.

SUVs “The Toyota Qualis is still in mint condition. It provides good ride comfort. I also have a rare SUV -- Hyundai Terracan -- in my fleet. I love large SUVs; the comfort they provide is the main reason for this preference. I plan my projects during my journeys; hold meetings, and I keep in touch with people. I get a lot of time especially during business trips. Often, I take naps during journeys. If you want to utilise this time well, you need a comfortable and safe SUV. I see a vehicle as my office. For self-drive, I prefer Rexton. Effortless drive is the hallmark of the Rexton. My driver will be with me whenever I am taking the Lexus LX out. I grew from small vehicles to large ones.”

First train journey "My family loved travelling. My father presented us a tour offer when I was studying in class 5. It was a trip to Ernakulam. It was a big thing then because we had never seen Ernakulam before. We took a bus to the Vaikom road station at Appanchira. From there Ernakulam is a half-an-hour train journey. There was no platform then. We were worried about how to get into the train given the little time it would be stopping there. The train arrived. My father literally threw all of us into the train. That’s how we three siblings, father and mother travelled to Ernakulam by train," he said.

“It was a coincidence during a train journey that opened the door to the space trip. It was during one of those train journeys in London that I happened to read a newspaper left over by someone about the space journey. I had to contact Virgin Galactic several times to confirm my seat.”

First flight “My first flight was not related to my passion. Then, the newsprint required for my father's press used to arrive at Bombay port. Once, an agent called to say that newsprint had become wet and someone should come to inspect it and separate newsprint that could still be used. I had just completed my graduation then. Since I used to help out with press work, I knew about such things. So, my father handed over the mission to me and provided me flight tickets. That's how I flew for the first time from the old Navy airport in Kochi.

Space "I am preparing to become one of the passengers of the private spaceflight of Virgin Galactic. Unity 22 has already conducted its first spaceflight successfully, with Virgin Galactic's founder Richard Branson being one of the passengers. I am travelling not only for myself but for all Malayalis."

How does he find time for his travels across the world, business trips, the Safari channel, and preparations for the space trip?

“One needs to develop a system on our own to do all such things. If you follow other models, one may not be able to effectively utilise time. For eg., I need just four hours to edit an episode of ‘Sancharam’ (his visual travelogue). That is because of my familiarity with those places. If I approach other editors, they might take more time. So, to finish the work fast, I do it myself. And things that others can do faster than me would be given to them. This is how the functions are streamlined,” he said.

“I don't follow the style of working only from the office. A video can be edited at home too. During a journey, several things can be planned. I travel only for five days in a month for ‘Sancharam’ shoot. On other days, I will be in my office. I have never felt like Sunday is a holiday.”

Message to Fast Track readers “We should aim for the moon. Our children have small ambitions. I get this feeling when I read the comments to my videos. They are interested in the trivial things in the video. They don't try to understand the viewpoint or the depth of the subject. Even when I am presenting a serious topic in 'Sanjariyude dairykurippukal', I might crack a joke and it seems like they enjoy only that. Above jokes, we need to reach a bigger goal. We need to contribute something worthy to the world before we leave here.”

“How many people who had lived 100 or 200 years ago are remembered today? Very few, like Marthanda Varma, Pazhassi Raja, Kunjali Marakkar, Perumthachan, etc. Why don't we remember other people who had lived during that time? They become immortal because of their extraordinary or adventurous deeds. We too should be able to do something that the future generation feels worthy of remembering of us.”

“Kayamkulam Kochunni is the best example before us that even a good thief can leave his mark in the world. Whatever be your field of work, we should aim to be someone the world will remember. It should not be accidental; one needs to work for it.”

Land Rover Land Rover is the automotive partner of Virgin Galactic's space tourism project. Land Rover vehicles will be used to transport space passengers for trials and flights. Range Rover has launched an Astronaut edition. Space travellers who belong to the Virgin Galactic and its astronaut community could own one. There are several unique aspects to its interior, including astronaut edition badge and Virgin Galactic's 'DNA of Flight' logo on the front console drawer made of carbon fibre. Several elements of the spaceship will be part of the interior. It also gets zero gravity blue paint inspired by the depth and intensity of the night sky. It will be powered by a plug-in hybrid 404 hp engine.

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Watch this space: Who is the first Indian space tourist and where did gold come from?

The upcoming blue origin ns-25 mission and the potential of gopi thotakura becoming the first indian space tourist..

Jeff Bezos-led space startup Blue Origin revealed the six-person crew that will be flying on its NS-25 mission. For most of the world, the notable fact is the inclusion of Ed Dwight, who became the first Black astronaut candidate in 1961 even though he never flew to space. But for Indians, this mission could be special because it could launch the first Indian space tourist. 

Entrepreneur and aviator Gopi Thotakura is part of the NS-25 mission that will carry six astronauts beyond the edge of space before bringing them back to Earth. When it happens, the mission could make Thotakura the first Indian space tourist. But interestingly, he is not the first Indian space tourist candidate. That would be Kerala-based veteran travel documentary producer and businessman Santhosh George Kulangara. 

Kulangara told indianexpress.com in 2021 that he spent Rs 1.8 crore to secure himself a ticket aboard a Virgin Galactic spaceplane. Kulangara was selected as a tourist as far back as 2007 and went through multiple training sessions since then, include some to simulate a zero-gravity environment. He had already visited over 130 countries and was going to add another feather to his cap as an explorer, but he still had not flown to space yet. 

So that leaves it to Thotakura, who Blue Origin described as the “pilot and aviator who learned how to fly before he could drive.” He is a chief operating officer at Asian Infrastructure Private Limited., a family business and also the co-founder of Preserve Life Corp., a “holistic wellness” organisation. 

In addition to flying jets commercially, Gopi pilots bush, aerobatic, and seaplanes, as well as gliders and hot air balloons, and has served as an international medical jet pilot. A lifelong traveller, his most recent adventure took him to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro,” said a press release from the company. 

Do remember that neither Thotakura nor Kulangara would be the first Indian to go to space. Both of them are a little too late for that. Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian astronaut when he flew to the Soviet Union’s Salyut-7 space station in 1984 on a Soviet Soyuz T-11 rocket. 

While Sharma spent seven days in space, the NS-25 mission carrying Thotakura will only spend about an hour in flight from takeoff to landing. Only around a minute of that will be spent beyond the Karman line, which is considered the edge of our planet’s atmosphere and the beginning of space.

The mission will also be the first crewed flight for the fully-reusable New Shepard rocket since NS-22 in 2022. Blue Origin’s fleet of rockets, named after Alan Shepard, the first American to go to space, was grounded after an engine failure caused a crash during an uncrewed mission in September 2022. It only resumed flying in December 2023 and the upcoming mission will be its fires crewed one since the mishap. The company is yet to announce a date for the launch. 

As we pondered the question of the difference between the first Indian space tourist and the first Indian space tourist designate, researchers from Northwestern University and other institutions this month made an announcement about something else scientists have been thinking about — where did heavy elements like gold and platinum come from?

They have often speculated that these elements are manufactured in a supernova or stellar explosions. This should mean that we would be able to find signatures of the elements in the newly discovered supernova. 

The “brightest of all time” or B.O.A.T is the name given to a gamma-ray burst that swept through the Earth in October 2022. Gamma-ray bursts themselves are the signals from the most powerful and violent explosions in the world, those believed to birth black holes. And this was the most powerful one we have ever detected. 

An extensive study of B.O.A.T helped scientists confirm that it was caused by the collapse of a neutron star, which is what remains after a supernova explosion. But the study also found no signatures of gold or platinum or any other heavy metals. This means that we still don’t know where they come from and also suggests there is a small chance they did not come from supernovae in the first place. 

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Former JNU student Hem Mishra, who was arrested for alleged Maoist links and spent more than a decade in jail, was recently acquitted. He plans to continue his studies and speak out against injustices. Mishra's family was deeply affected by his arrest, but he remains determined to fight for the rights of the marginalized.

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Splurging ₹1.8 Crores, This Kerala Man Could Be The First Space Tourist From India

After Virgin Atlantic honcho Richard Branson and former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos went on historical space travel missions, space tourism has become the latest travel trend. Kerala-based entreprenuer Santhosh George Kulangara might soon become India’s first person to travel to space as a tourist. Kulangara was selected by Branson’s Virgin Galactic as a space tourist all the way back in 2007. Fast forward to today, Santhosh George Kulangara will splurge $250,000 (₹1.8 crores) for an experience that he deems is totally worth it. Here’s everything about it.

Santhosh George Kulangara To Become India’s First Space Tourist

49-year-old Santhosh George Kulangara from Kerala is the founder of Safari TV, a channel dedicated to travel and exploration. An avid travel enthusiast, Kulangara was selected by Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic as a paid space tourist in 2007. He revealed to The Indian Express that he completed his training to go to space in 2011. The training was mostly to gauge if the space tourists can withstand certain conditions during the trip. Now, Virgin is yet to confirm when Kulangara will go to space and if he requires further training or medical tests to board the spaceshit.

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He Is An Avid Traveller Who Visited 130 Countries

Santhosh George Kulangara believes that space tourism can become the next big thing for humans. He stated to The Indian Express that space tourism is an investment for the future. Before signing the contract with Virgin in 2007 he insisted on being allowed to shoot during the space trip so people at home can watch the unique sights. Kulangara is a keen traveller who has visited over 130 countries across 7 continents. He insists that travel broadens our horizon. In his opinioon, Indians must focus on travelling like Westerners, invest their money for life experiences instead of keeping them in banks. One country he wishes Indians must visit is China, due to its stunning tourism. 

Meanwhile, here’s the inspiring story of a 73-year-old woman who goes solo travelling in India. 

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