Washington:
Indian-American astronaut Raja J Chari has been nominated by President Joe Biden for the appointment as Air Force Brigadier General. The nomination was announced Thursday and will need to be confirmed by the Senate, which the US Department of Defense says approves all senior civilian and military appointments.
Air Force Colonel Chari, 45, had been nominated for the rank of brigadier general, it said in a statement.
Mr. Chari currently serves as Commander and Astronaut of Crew-3, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Johnson Space Center, Texas.
He received 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.
Mr. Chari was commander of the 461st Flight Test Squadron and director of the F-35 Integrated Test Force at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
Inspired by his father Srinivas Chari, who went to the US from Hyderabad at a young age for an engineering degree, to pursue higher education and make a successful career. He met his wife and spent his entire career with John Deere in Waterloo.
In 2020, Chari was selected by NASA and the European Space Agency as Commander of the SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
Mr. Chari joins this mission with extensive experience as a test pilot. He has accumulated more than 2,500 flying hours in his career.
Brigadier General (BG) is the rank of one-star officer general of the United States Air Force. It’s just above Colonel and below Major General.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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