Hailing from Andhra Pradesh, he was one of six crew members selected for sub-orbital space flight of Blue Origin New Shepard -25 (NS-25) Mission.

• NS-25 is a rocket system that has been designed to take astronauts and research payloads past the Karman line.
• Karman line lies nearly 100 kilometres above sea level and is considered as boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.

Space Tourism 

• It refers to commercial activity of sending private individuals to space for recreational, adventure, or leisure purposes.
• Types of space tourism
  • Sub-orbital spacecraft: It takes passengers just beyond Kármán line. 
    • NS-25 mission is a sub-orbital mission.
  • Orbital spacecraft: It takes passengers much further than Kármán line.

Benefits of Space Tourism

• Production of advanced spacecraft will help to generate employment, stimulate innovation, and drive investment.
  • For instance, NASA is helping small businesses for developing technologies to advance space exploration, climate research, and more.
• Raise public awareness of space science.

Steps taken by India in line with Space tourism 

• Gaganyaan aims to send astronauts to an orbit of 400km for 3 days mission.
• Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) facilitates participation of private players.