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Ravish Malhotra (born 25 December 1943 in
Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
,
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
) is a retired Air Commodore of the
Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...
. He was an Air Force
test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...
stationed at the test centre in
Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
. 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 The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
's
Intercosmos Interkosmos (russian: Интеркосмос) was a Soviet space program, designed to help the Soviet Union's allies with crewed and uncrewed space missions. The program was formed in April 1967 in Moscow. All members of the program from USSR ...
program. Malhotra served as backup for
Rakesh Sharma Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, AC (born 13 January 1949) is a former Indian Air Force pilot who flew aboard Soyuz T-11 on 3 April 1984 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme. He is the only Indian citizen to travel in space, although ...
on the
Soyuz T-11 Soyuz T-11 was the sixth expedition to the Soviet Salyut 7 space station, which in 1984 carried the first Indian cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, ...
mission which launched the first Indian into space, but never went to space himself. Malhotra was awarded the Soviet
Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples (russian: oрден Дружбы народов, translit=orden Druzhby narodov) was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military unit ...
in 1984 and the
Kirti Chakra The Kirti Chakra is an Indian military decoration awarded for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the field of battle. It may be awarded to civilians as well as military personnel, including posthumous awards. It is the ''pe ...
in 1985.


Early life

Malhotra was born on 25 December 1943 in
Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...
, in former
British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...
to a family with three other siblings. His mother was Raj Malhotra and his father was SC Malhotra. His family moved from Lahore to Delhi after India's independence from Britain and the subsequent
partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...
in 1947. The family first stayed at Malhotra's father's brother's house in Delhi before settling in
Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
. Malhotra studied at
St Thomas School St Thomas School may refer to: * St Thomas School, Kalyan * St Thomas School, Kolkata * St. Thomas' School, Leipzig * St Thomas Secondary School, Pahang, Malaysia * St Thomas Primary School, Pahang, Malaysia * St Thomas Secondary School, Sarawak, M ...
in Calcutta. After graduation, he was admitted to the National Defence Academy (NDA). Speaking of his career choices, he would later say that he had wanted to join the
Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...
but was instead drafted into the
Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...
(IAF). During the selections, he was told that his eyesight was not good enough for the navy and was selected for the Air Force, where there was a shortage of cadets at the time.


Career


Early career

After graduating from the NDA, Malhotra was commissioned as an officer in 1963 to the ''Vampire Squadron'' of the Indian Air Force flying the De Havilland Vampire. During this period he was posted to the IAF base in
Barrackpore Barrackpore (also known as Barrackpur) is a city and a municipality of urban Kolkata of North 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is also a part of the area covered by Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA ...
near Calcutta. He progressively graduated to flying other aircraft including the F-111 Bomber, Dassault Mystère,
HAL HF-24 Marut The HAL HF-24 Marut ("Spirit of the Tempest") was an Indian fighter-bomber aircraft of the 1960s. Developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), with Kurt Tank as lead designer. The Project Engineer from HAL was George William Benjamin. It ...
, and later the Soviet Sukhoi Su-22. Malhotra was part of the IAF fighter squadron that was tasked with air raids over Pakistan in 1971, after that country had launched strikes on India prior to the Bangladesh (East Pakistan) liberation war. He flew the Sukhoi Su-22 making over 17 sorties into Pakistan air space, where some of his colleagues were captured and taken
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold priso ...
. In one attack in the Chamb-Jaurian sector in the then Western Pakistan, his plane was at the receiving end of heavy anti-aircraft gunfire, but he nevertheless returned to the air-base in India. The war ended with the successful liberation of Bangladesh.


Indo-Soviet Space Program

After the war of 1971, Malhotra was selected for the
U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School (USAF TPS) is the Air Force's advanced flight training school that trains experimental test pilots, flight test engineers, and flight test flight officer, navigators to carry out tests and evaluations of new ...
at the
Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is E ...
in California and later to the Indo-Soviet Space Program, a joint program between India and the former USSR. During this time, he would undertake tests at the Institute of Aerospace Medicine, in Bangalore and later in Moscow. The final tests would result in Malhotra,
Rakesh Sharma Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, AC (born 13 January 1949) is a former Indian Air Force pilot who flew aboard Soyuz T-11 on 3 April 1984 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos programme. He is the only Indian citizen to travel in space, although ...
, and two other cadets being selected to train for spaceflight in the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
's
Intercosmos Interkosmos (russian: Интеркосмос) was a Soviet space program, designed to help the Soviet Union's allies with crewed and uncrewed space missions. The program was formed in April 1967 in Moscow. All members of the program from USSR ...
program in 1982. Malhotra trained at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City for over two years. The training and medium of instruction was in Russian since much of the instrumentation and other equipment markings were in Russian. In addition to physical conditioning in preparation for space flight, the cadets also worked on the simulators including sorties on the
Ilyushin Il-76 The Ilyushin Il-76 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-76; NATO reporting name: Candid) is a multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Soviet Union's Ilyushin design bureau. It was first planned as a comm ...
aircraft which simulated near zero gravity and microgravity conditions for ~50 seconds at a time. Training also included sea recovery and survival since the Soyuz spacecraft capsule recovery was over the sea. During this time, his contact was limited to the cadets in the program, the Russian handlers, and officers from the Indian Embassy in Moscow, whom he met over the weekends. At the end of the training program, Malhotra and Sharma were shortlisted as the two members of the Indian team on the
Soyuz T-11 Soyuz T-11 was the sixth expedition to the Soviet Salyut 7 space station, which in 1984 carried the first Indian cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, ...
mission to launch the first Indian into space in 1984. The two trained on multiple mission objectives including studying the effects of
yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...
in space as well as other biomedicine and
remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Earth ...
experiments. Malhotra remained Sharma's backup for this mission, while Sharma went on to be the first Indian in space. The decision to have Sharma go to space and Malhotra remain on the ground was taken by the
Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...
in India halfway through the training program. Speaking later about the decision, Malhotra said, "I was disappointed, but you accept it, and move on with the mission". He remained on good terms with Sharma after the mission. After returning from the Soviet Union, Malhotra was awarded the Soviet
Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples (russian: oрден Дружбы народов, translit=orden Druzhby narodov) was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military unit ...
in 1984 and
Kirti Chakra The Kirti Chakra is an Indian military decoration awarded for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the field of battle. It may be awarded to civilians as well as military personnel, including posthumous awards. It is the ''pe ...
in 1985.


Later career

Malhotra returned to his combat role in the Air Force upon his return to India and was posted as the
commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...
of the
Hindan Air Force Station Air Force Station Hindon (Hindon AFS) (also Hindon) is an Indian Air Force base under the Western Air Command (WAC). It is the biggest and largest air base in Asia. Its area measured 14 km rounded and . This base celebrates Air Force Day o ...
near the Indian capital of Delhi. He took an early retirement from the Air Force in 1995. After his retirement from the Indian Air Force, Malhotra entered the private sector, setting up an aerospace manufacturing firm Dynamatic Aerospace. The NSE-listed company manufactures precision parts with clients including
Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...
,
Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
, and Bell helicopters. He retired from the company at the age of 75.


Personal life

Malhotra is married to Mira Malhotra, a psychologist. The couple have two children. As of 2021 he continues to live in
Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
in Southern India.


References


External links


Air Commodore Ravish Malhotra: Service Record
at Bharat Rakshak *
Soyuz T-10 Soyuz T-10 was the fifth expedition to the Salyut 7 space station. It entered a darkened and empty station because of the loss of Soyuz T-10a. It was visited by the sixth and seventh expeditions. During the course of the cosmonauts stay, thr ...
br>Mission Report
a
Spacefacts.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malhotra, Ravish 1943 births Living people Punjabi people Indian Air Force officers Indian astronauts Military personnel from Lahore Military personnel from Punjab, India Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Recipients of the Kirti Chakra