10-10-2003, 12:53 AM
So far as I know, Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma, Indian Air Force, received no special pilot's badge for his mission on Soyuz T-11 (3-11 April 1984). He did receive HSL and Order of Lenin.
He (and the Soviet crewmen - Colonel Yury Vasilyevich Malyshev, Soviet Air Force, and Engineer Gennady Mikhailovich Strekalov) received the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest decoration for non-combat gallantry) (~George Cross). This was a HIGHLY IRREGULAR award and required special alteration of the statutes for the Ashoka Chakra. It was -- and is -- immensely controversial.
Awards of the the next level of civilian gallantry award (the Kirti Chakra) were also made to the backup crew (Indian and Soviet alike -- and were even more highly controversial). And, persunably, some Soviet awards came in the other direction?
I hope to see (and photograph) Sharma's awards the next time in India.
Ed Haynes
He (and the Soviet crewmen - Colonel Yury Vasilyevich Malyshev, Soviet Air Force, and Engineer Gennady Mikhailovich Strekalov) received the Ashoka Chakra, India's highest decoration for non-combat gallantry) (~George Cross). This was a HIGHLY IRREGULAR award and required special alteration of the statutes for the Ashoka Chakra. It was -- and is -- immensely controversial.
Awards of the the next level of civilian gallantry award (the Kirti Chakra) were also made to the backup crew (Indian and Soviet alike -- and were even more highly controversial). And, persunably, some Soviet awards came in the other direction?
I hope to see (and photograph) Sharma's awards the next time in India.
Ed Haynes












