Gopi Thotakura

Some Lesser Known Facts About Gopi Thotakura

• Gopi Thotakura wanted to become a pilot since childhood. He also read about space during his teenage years.

  

• He moved from India to the USA in 2010 where he later pursued his higher education in aeronautical sciences.

  

• He later became an entrepreneur and joined his father in their family business at Asian Infrastructure Pte Ltd (AIL). He became the COO of AIL in April 2017.

• From December 2015 to March 2020, he worked as a principal at the Pema Wellness Resort, Visakhapatnam.

• Thotakura has also worked as a consultant at Shaurya Aeronautics Private Limited from January 2016 to May 2016 and as principal business development manager at JetSetGo Aviation Services Private Limited from August 2016 to December 2016.

  

• In May 2017, he founded the Charlie Foxtrot Aviation.

• From January 2018 to March 2020, he worked as a commercial pilot, flying Learjet 45XR aircraft, for VSR Ventures Private Limited.

  

• In March 2020, Thotakura co-founded Preserve Life Corporation in Douglasville, Atlanta, which is a health and wellness centre.

  

• In August 2022, he hiked to Mount Kilimanjaro’s summit, Africa’s highest mountain.

  

• He made headlines in April 2024 when he was declared as one of the six crew members for Jeff Bezos‘s Blue Origin New Shepard-25 (NS-25) mission. The other crew members were Mason Angel, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller, and former Air Force Captain Ed Dwight.

• He became the first Indian space tourist and the second Indian to go into space, after Rakesh Sharma, who went into space in 1984.

• He drinks beer during parties or celebrations.