Who is Arvinder Singh Bahal? Indian‑origin businessman heading to space with Blue Origin; licensed pilot and globe‑trotter
Indian-origin
Arvinder Singh Bahal
, a naturalized US citizen, is set to soar to the edge of space on the upcoming
space tourism
flight of
Blue Origin
, the private aerospace company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos.
Bahal will be part of a diverse six-member crew. The line-up includes Gökhan Erdem, a Turkish businessman, space enthusiast and photographer; Deborah Martorell, a Puerto Rican meteorologist and journalist; and Lionel Pitchford from England, who has worked as a teacher, translator, and tour guide in Spain for over four decades.
Also joining the mission are JD Russell, an American serial entrepreneur and founder of the tech-focused venture capital firm Alpha Funds, and Justin Sun, a Chinese crypto billionaire and founder of TRON, a blockchain-based decentralized platform.
About Arvinder Singh Bahal
Bahal, who is nicknamed "Arvi," is 79-years-old, and was born in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. He is a real estate investor by profession.
"A lifelong traveller and adventurer, 'Arvi' has visited every country in the world, the North and South Poles, and skydived Mount Everest and the Pyramids of Giza,' the Blue Origin statement read.
'He holds a private pilot's license and also flies helicopters,' it added.
The mission
Blue Origin's
New Shepard rocket
carrying the crew will lift off from the company's Launch Site One (Corn Ranch) near Van Horn, Texas, on Sunday. The launch window opens at 7:30 am CDT / 12:30 pm UTC (6 pm in India).
The rocket has taken 70 people above the Kármán line (the internationally recognised boundary of space) before the current mission.
The flight, Blue Origin's 14th crewed one to to suborbital space, will last 11 minutes. It will be New Shepard's 34th mission and its fifth this year.
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