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Meet the first Indian space tourist
Published on Fri, Jan 11, 2008 at 11:40 in 
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EXPLORING SPACE: Hardik Gajjar has own won the `Bindaas Go to Space Contest' on a TV channel.
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Ahmedabad: A 21-year-old science graduate from Ahmedabad has won the `Bindaas Go to Space Contest' on a TV channel. And with that he will also become the first Indian space tourist.
Meet Hardik Gajjar – he has own won the `Bindaas Go to Space Contest' on a TV channel.
Congratulatory messages are pouring in ever since news spread that he's won a TV channel contest to secure a chance to go into space.
His passion for song, dance, humour and mimicry has won him several awards. But this surely is the highest honour that he could have ever imagined.
Asked in the initial rounds of the contest why he wants to go into space, Hardik said, “I told them its because I wanted to know how one answers nature's call in space."
But the contest to become the first Indian space tourist was not easy. Seven finalists from across the country battled it out, testing their wit, general knowledge and ability to adapt to different situations.
Hardik, who will be formally declared winner on Sunday, will train at NASA. The rocket plane XP commandeered by former NASA astronaut John Herrington will take him into space next year. Hardik is still at a loss of words to describe his luck.
“I have no words to express myself, may be my expressions can, " Hardik added.
And the family is overjoyed as well.
Hardik's sister Amita said, "We are all excited and happy. Its great that he will go into space."
Hardik’s feat is not just about winning a talent competition. In doing so, he has come one of a billion Indians to be able to visit space.
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