BENGALURU: One of the microgravity experiments – yoga -- that researchers in India were looking forward to when a national went up to space in 1984, was if this form of exercise to prepare ‘space crews’ for zero-G environment would serve as a good alternative to the Russian regimen. The norm was to go by the Russian module of training, but two months before the space flight,
Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian to have travelled to space in 1984, stopped all other systems of training, and just prepared the yogic method. Sharma spoke to a group of space enthusiasts recently stating that yogic exercises were modified to condition the body to the zero-G environment.
Sharma was tested for various medical parameters before the space flight. Results were compared with the parameters of Russian cosmonauts who continued to train as per their particular methodology. Yet, the results remained inconclusive. Sharma said that the ample data was not statistically valid to come to conclusions. “Adaptation to space is subjective. Just like travel and air sickness, not everyone gets space sickness. Maybe I was one of the guys who would not get space sickness,” he said.
“I had no problem adapting to zero gravity except for the usual problems and readapting at gravity. But so was the case with the more experienced Russian cosmonauts,” he added. As India prepares for its own human space flight mission, which, as per sources is likely to be in January 2022, researchers at AIIMS Delhi have been working this time around on a body suit that will allow astronauts to perform yoga in space.