For 23-year-old Udhayakeerthika it will be another step towards realising her goal of travelling to space if she gets funds to go to Canada and train as pilot.
A resident of Allinagaram in Theni district, the only child of T. Damotharan and Amutha, dreams of travelling to space. Her father was an advertising board painter, who also wrote a few stories in Tamil magazines. He is now involved in finding donors for his daughter’s education. Her mother was a computer operator in a law firm who resigned due to health issues.
It all began, when in class 10 and later in class 12, Udhayakeerthika won the first place in essay contests conducted by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The school topper was invited to ISRO to receive her prize. She got to see rockets and the functioning of ISRO and she began to dream of becoming an astronaut.
Her parents supported her with help from well-wishers, and she went to the Ivana Kozheduba Kharkiv National Air Force University, Kharkiv in Ukraine from where she graduated after a four-year degree programme as a specialist technician of aircraft maintenance engineering with 92.4% marks.
During her final year in 2019, she applied to the Analog Astronaut Training Center in Poland where she trained to be an astronaut. There she was taught the survival tactics for the moon or Mars, she says. “We are put through rigorous training that requires extreme physical fitness. It is a military medical institution,” says Ms. Udhayakeerthika, who is from a Tamil-medium aided school in Allinagaram.
She undertook a simulation space flight, including re-entry into the earth from space, which tested her ability to withstand the force of anti-gravity. She has completed the exams conducted by the Director General of Civil Aviation and has been accepted by Harv’s Air Academy, Steinbach, Canada for training. “I have been asked to join in April. I have cleared the exams. The cost of education, including visa and living expenses amounts to ₹50 lakh for which I need donors,” she says.
“A lot of people have helped me come this far. I chose Canada as it is a one-year course. In India it takes two-and-a-half years. Besides, all military pilots train in the Academy. The bank wants me to show my financial capability. Only after bank approval can I start the visa process,” Ms. Udhayakeerthika says.
