US President Joe Biden nominated Indian American astronaut Raja J Chari as US Air Force’s brigadier general.
Key points
- The nomination will have to be confirmed by the Senate. The Senate approves all senior civilian and military appointments.
- Colonel Chari, 45, has been nominated for the appointment to the grade of Brigadier General. It is a one-star General Officer rank of the United States Air Force, just above Colonel and below Major General.
- Chari was selected by NASA to join the 2017 Astronaut Candidate Class. He served as commander of the NASA SpaceX Crew-3 mission to the ISS, which launched on November 10, 2021.
- He served on the International Space Station as part of Expedition 66 and 67 before returning to Earth on May 6, 2022, completing the agency’s third long-duration commercial crew mission.
- The international crew of four spent 177 days in orbit.
