Former NASA astronaut Steve Smith lauded India’s space program, highlighting its audacity and achievements, during his address at India’s first International GenAI Conclave in Kochi on Thursday. The event was inaugurated by Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan. Smith, a veteran of four space flights covering 16 million miles and seven spacewalks, praised India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan) from 2013-14, noting its historical significance as the first successful interplanetary mission by any country on its maiden attempt. “It was the first time a country ever made it successfully to another planet on the first attempt. All of you should be proud of it,” he remarked during his session titled ‘Lessons Learned from A Skywalker’.
Smith also commended ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 mission, which achieved a successful soft landing on the lunar south pole last year. He pointed out the uniqueness of this accomplishment by highlighting that in the subsequent 11 months, similar missions by Japan, Russia, and two private US spacecraft failed. “What makes India’s moon mission spectacular is the fact that in the next 11 months after that, four other missions to the lunar south pole failed,” he said.
Discussing ISRO’s upcoming Gaganyaan mission, Smith mentioned, “India will send astronauts to space now. I was told that one of them is from Kerala,” referring to astronaut-designate Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair from Palakkad.
Smith also shared his personal journey, recounting his friendship with Indian-born US astronaut Kalpana Chawla, his repeated rejections from NASA’s astronaut program, and overcoming medical disqualifications due to a near-fatal internal bleeding incident at age 15. Emphasizing the importance of setting audacious goals, he cited SpaceX founder Elon Musk as an example. “A South African immigrant came to NASA 15 years ago and said I can reduce the cost of launching a rocket by 50 to 85%. NASA’s reaction was to laugh. Here we are, 15 years later, Musk has done exactly that,” he noted.
 from 2013-14, noting its historical significance as the first successful interplanetary mission by any country on its maiden attempt. "It was the first time a country ever made it successfully to another planet on the first attempt. All of you should be proud of it," he remarked during his session titled ‘Lessons Learned from A Skywalker’.){kind=link}