US President Biden Nominates Indian-American Astronaut For Appointment To Grade Of General Officer
US President Joe Biden on Thursday made the announcement nominating Indian-American astronaut Raja Chari for the post of Air Force brigadier general.
New Delhi: United States President Joe Biden has nominated Indian-American astronaut Raja J Chari for the appointment to the grade of Air Force brigadier general, reported PTI.
The report cited the US Defence Department and said that the nomination, which was announced on Thursday, will have to be confirmed by the Senate.
Notably, it is the Senate that approves all senior civilian and military appointments.
45-year-old Air Force Colonel Chari is currently serving as the Crew-3 commander and astronaut, at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Johnson Space Center, Texas.
Chari earned a master's degree in aeronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and graduated from the US Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland, the PTI report mentioned.
He also served as the commander of the 461st Flight Test Squadron and the director of the F-35 Integrated Test Force at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
According to the report, Raja J Chari was inspired by his father Srinivas Chari, who went to the US at a young age from Hyderabad for an engineering degree, to get a higher education and make a successful career. He met his wife and spent his entire career at John Deere in Waterloo, it added.
Chari was selected as the Commander of the SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by NASA and the European Space Agency in 2020. He has extensive experience as a test pilot with over 2,500 hours of flight time in his career.
Brigadier General (BG) is a one-star General Officer rank of the United States Air Force. It is just above Colonel and below Major General, the report said.
First Indian-American Mayor Of US State Of Maryland
Earlier this month, Aruna Miller wrote history by becoming the first Indian-American to be elected as the Lieutenant Governor of the US state of Maryland. She was sworn in as the 10th lieutenant governor of the state on January 18.
Miller took her oath on the Bhagwat Gita and said that as a woman of colour, she spent most of her life trying to fit into a space that didn't have her in mind as an immigrant or a woman of colour.
She was a part of a historic Democratic ticket that stood victorious in November last year, which also gave Maryland its first Black governor, its first Black attorney general, and its first female comptroller, according to the Washington Post.
Miller also won because of her popularity among Indian Americans in the state, where several Republicans and pro-Trump supporters came out to support her.
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