Santhosh George Kulangara
Encyclopedia
Santhosh George Kulangara (born 25 December 1971) is the first possible future India
n space tourist and has been confirmed along with 37 others for space
-tour operator Virgin Galactic
’s 2009 spaceflight.
village, Kottayam
District in Kerala
, India. He is a post graduate and a trained cinematographer
. He is married to Soncy and has two children – Sarika and George. He is the son of V.J.George Kulangara, the founder of Labour India
Publications Ltd.
Santhosh George Kulangara is well-known in the educational sector as the founder of the Labour India
Educational Research Centre (LIERC). It was inaugurated by the former President of India, Dr. K.R. Narayanan. The Centre engages in a wide variety of activities such as creation of innovative educational products including monthly journals
, preparation of study materials of global standards, programmes providing training for students, teachers and parents, development of multimedia
educational CDs, project and activity training and so on. LIERC publishes 36 different educational journals every month for the students from KG level to HSS level, which has got a monthly circulation of 1.5 million copies.
Sancharam Club is another initiative of this visionary entrepreneur. This travel club, the first of its kind in the country, is meant exclusively for children. It conducts study tours for the students and prompts them to come out of the four walls of the classroom to see and experience the vast world outside.
He is the co-founder of Labour India Gurukulam Public School
, International Gurukulam School in Wagamon
and Bluefield International Academy
, West Virginia in the US. He is the Chairman and Managing Director of Supplement Communications, an evening newspaper, and Labour India
Software Laboratories.
Santhosh George Kulangara is very much eager to preserve and retain the cultural heritage
, the traditional art forms and the unmatched lifestyles of Kerala
. For this, he developed a unique heritage resort in an island in Vembanadu Lake, at Chempu, near Cochin. This island resort named Kerala Palace is an archive of the exotic traditions of art, architecture, cuisine
and ayurveda
.
There are travelogue
s and travelogues. Very many tele-serials are being telecast
on exotic locations in various channels
. But a lone traveller perambulating round the globe and videoing the scenic beauty, historical remnants and other exotic features in different countries, making them into a television serial and finally having them telecast every week continually for the last eight years through a well-known channel…it sounds incredible!
Asianet News Channel has been telecasting this visual travelogue serial entitled “Sancharam”, conceived and directed by Santhosh George Kulangara, ever since September 2001 without even a single break. The programme is scheduled at 10.30 am on Sundays.
Normally a large team is required to shoot and prepare a professional visual travelogue. It is virtually impractical for such a team to travel continuously through foreign countries. Even if this is somehow made possible, it warrants a heavy expense. It is against such a background that Santhosh George Kulangara ventured voluntarily to take up the journey all alone. The first country to be filmed was Nepal
. It was followed by Malaysia, Singapore, England, France, etc. During the past 12 years, Santhosh George Kulangara has filmed 69 countries spreading over the Asian, African, Australian, Americas and AartiEuropean continents. These countries include England, France, Italy
, Belgium, Luxembourg
, the Vatican city
, Sri Lanka, Qatar
, Thailand, Nepal
, Maldives, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Russia, Finland
, Austria, Hungary
, the Netherlands
, Liechtenstein, Sweden
, Denmark, Poland
, Germany, the U.A.E., Switzerland
, Turkey, Czech Republic
, Belarus, Egypt
, Greece, Bhutan
, Japan, Philippines
, Taiwan, Monaco
, Indonesia, South Korea
, Spain, Portugal
, South Africa, Kenya
, Cambodia, Vietnam
, Jordan, Israel
, Palestine, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Ethiopia
, Uganda, Latvia
, Lithuania, Estonia
, Chile, Argentina
, Brazil, Honduras
, Belize, Mexico
, Oman, Seychelles
, Mauritius and Myanmar
.
Santhosh George Kulangara has also conducted a lengthy expedition
through Antarctica. This journey was made along with seven explorers from various countries. The solo adventures of this globetrotting T V-journalist have won the hearts of both critics as well as the lay people, as such a treat was unheard of in the world media itself. By and large the tele-serial ‘Sancharam’ has already become a craze among the viewers.
The Limca Book of Records
has included this unique and rarest adventure of Santhosh George Kulangara in its pages. He has already been conferred with over ten prestigious honours including the Asian Television Award, the Film Critics Award and several national awards.
It is his unquenchable enthusiasm for taking up ‘Herculean’ tasks that prompted Santhosh George Kulangara to become the first space tourist from India. When Virgin Galactic
Company announced its space tourism programme in the private sector, he was the first in India to have his name confirmed for the space odyssey.
He is the first resident Indian to buy a US$ 200,000 ticket for a sub-orbital ride with British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic
spaceliner. . The space flight is designed to last two and a half hours in space
, during which the spaceship
will detach from the mother ship
at 50,000 ft (15,000 m), the ruising altitude f the Concorde
aircraft. To prepare for the trip he successfully completed medical tests, zero gravity training at Kennedy Space Center
in Florida, and three-day pre-flight preparation, bonding and training at the Mojave desert
spaceport in California. A specially designed aircraft was used for the training programme. . In January 2008, Virgin Galactic unveiled a model of SpaceShipTwo, for carrying tourists into space and said that construction of the actual flight should be completed in 2008 and is expected to take-off in 2009. In July 2008, he completed the second part of training for space tourists at NASA. He took part in the training at the National Aerospace Training and Research Centre at Southampton
in Pennsylvania
. He also attended the launch ceremony of the space vehicle White Knight Two at Mojave spaceport in California.
), Maluvinte Lokam, Chithirapurathe Visheshangal, and Kerala Vishesham which were produced for Doordarshan
. He also directed the documentary Krishnagatha.
He has published two books on his travels and two more are in the processing stage. The published books are Oru Rabbiyude Chumbanangal (Kisses of a Rabbi
), which talks about his extensive journeys on buses and ships through Eastern Europe, and Nataashayude Varna Baloonukal, which is about the interesting sights and memorable experiences of his travels through Europe. He is also writing a book about his upcoming space voyage.
He won the 2002 Kamal Patra award for young businessmen. He was also awarded Yuva Prathiba Award (2004), All India RAPA Award (2003) andVivekananda award for his contributions to the tourism and education sector. He visited the former President of India
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who gave him a few tips for his space journey. Santhosh George Kulangara was advised by the President to see to it that the children of the nation are benefited by his experiences.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n space tourist and has been confirmed along with 37 others for space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
-tour operator Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic is a company within Richard Branson's Virgin Group which plans to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to the paying public, along with suborbital space science missions and orbital launches of small satellites...
’s 2009 spaceflight.
Background
Santhosh George Kulangara was born in MarangattupillyMarangattupilly
Marangattupally is a small village and headquarters of Marangattupally Grama Panchayat in Kottayam district, Kerala . Most of its people are either farmers or engaged in small-scale business. K. R. Narayanan, the tenth President of India, was born and grew up in the neighboring village of...
village, Kottayam
Kottayam
Kottayam is a city in the Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of 55.40 km2. It is the administrative capital of the Kottayam district. Kottayam Kottayam (Malayalam: കോട്ടയം) is a city in the Indian state of Kerala, spread over an area of 55.40 km2. It is the administrative...
District in Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
, India. He is a post graduate and a trained cinematographer
Cinematographer
A cinematographer is one photographing with a motion picture camera . The title is generally equivalent to director of photography , used to designate a chief over the camera and lighting crews working on a film, responsible for achieving artistic and technical decisions related to the image...
. He is married to Soncy and has two children – Sarika and George. He is the son of V.J.George Kulangara, the founder of Labour India
Labour India
Labour India Publications Limited is an educational publisher based in Marangattupally, Kerala, India. It publishes educational monthly journals in three languages, for students of pre-primary level to Plus Two level and entrance exams....
Publications Ltd.
Santhosh George Kulangara is well-known in the educational sector as the founder of the Labour India
Labour India
Labour India Publications Limited is an educational publisher based in Marangattupally, Kerala, India. It publishes educational monthly journals in three languages, for students of pre-primary level to Plus Two level and entrance exams....
Educational Research Centre (LIERC). It was inaugurated by the former President of India, Dr. K.R. Narayanan. The Centre engages in a wide variety of activities such as creation of innovative educational products including monthly journals
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
, preparation of study materials of global standards, programmes providing training for students, teachers and parents, development of multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
educational CDs, project and activity training and so on. LIERC publishes 36 different educational journals every month for the students from KG level to HSS level, which has got a monthly circulation of 1.5 million copies.
Sancharam Club is another initiative of this visionary entrepreneur. This travel club, the first of its kind in the country, is meant exclusively for children. It conducts study tours for the students and prompts them to come out of the four walls of the classroom to see and experience the vast world outside.
He is the co-founder of Labour India Gurukulam Public School
Labour India Gurukulam Public School
Labour India Gurukulam Public School and Junior College is a residential school in Marangattupilly, Kerala, India. It offers classes from pre-Kindergarten to Junior College. The school system integrates a sports schedule and community service...
, International Gurukulam School in Wagamon
Wagamon
Vagamon is a hill station located in Kottayam-Idukki border of Idukki district of Kerala, India. It has a cool climate with the temperature between 10-23°C during a summer midday. It is situated 1,100 metre above sea level....
and Bluefield International Academy
Bluefield International Academy
Bluefield International Academy is a residential boarding school located in Bluefield, West Virginia. The school occupies an area of and provides education through the ancient Indian Gurukulam system. The idea for this system of education was inspired by vedic teachings, where students live with...
, West Virginia in the US. He is the Chairman and Managing Director of Supplement Communications, an evening newspaper, and Labour India
Labour India
Labour India Publications Limited is an educational publisher based in Marangattupally, Kerala, India. It publishes educational monthly journals in three languages, for students of pre-primary level to Plus Two level and entrance exams....
Software Laboratories.
Santhosh George Kulangara is very much eager to preserve and retain the cultural heritage
Cultural heritage
Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
, the traditional art forms and the unmatched lifestyles of Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
. For this, he developed a unique heritage resort in an island in Vembanadu Lake, at Chempu, near Cochin. This island resort named Kerala Palace is an archive of the exotic traditions of art, architecture, cuisine
Cuisine
Cuisine is a characteristic style of cooking practices and traditions, often associated with a specific culture. Cuisines are often named after the geographic areas or regions that they originate from...
and ayurveda
Ayurveda
Ayurveda or ayurvedic medicine is a system of traditional medicine native to India and a form of alternative medicine. In Sanskrit, words , meaning "longevity", and , meaning "knowledge" or "science". The earliest literature on Indian medical practice appeared during the Vedic period in India,...
.
Travels and Travelogues
Santhosh George Kulangara has always had the urge to indulge in adventurous escapades. He has been contemplating to accomplish things that others never ventured into. Thus, despite his busy schedule as an entrepreneur he thought of traversing the globe and depicting the magnificent things around the world for the benefit of the common people.There are travelogue
Travelogue
Travelogue is the second full-length studio album released by the British synthpop band The Human League, released in May 1980 before the band achieved any degree of commercial success....
s and travelogues. Very many tele-serials are being telecast
Telecast
Telecast may refer to:*television broadcast*Telecast , a Christian band from the United States...
on exotic locations in various channels
Television channel
A television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and...
. But a lone traveller perambulating round the globe and videoing the scenic beauty, historical remnants and other exotic features in different countries, making them into a television serial and finally having them telecast every week continually for the last eight years through a well-known channel…it sounds incredible!
Asianet News Channel has been telecasting this visual travelogue serial entitled “Sancharam”, conceived and directed by Santhosh George Kulangara, ever since September 2001 without even a single break. The programme is scheduled at 10.30 am on Sundays.
Normally a large team is required to shoot and prepare a professional visual travelogue. It is virtually impractical for such a team to travel continuously through foreign countries. Even if this is somehow made possible, it warrants a heavy expense. It is against such a background that Santhosh George Kulangara ventured voluntarily to take up the journey all alone. The first country to be filmed was Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
. It was followed by Malaysia, Singapore, England, France, etc. During the past 12 years, Santhosh George Kulangara has filmed 69 countries spreading over the Asian, African, Australian, Americas and AartiEuropean continents. These countries include England, France, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Belgium, Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
, the Vatican city
Vatican City
Vatican City , or Vatican City State, in Italian officially Stato della Città del Vaticano , which translates literally as State of the City of the Vatican, is a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, Italy. It has an area of...
, Sri Lanka, Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
, Thailand, Nepal
Nepal
Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...
, Maldives, Malaysia, Singapore, China, Hong Kong, Russia, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Austria, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, Liechtenstein, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Denmark, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, Germany, the U.A.E., Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Turkey, Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, Belarus, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, Greece, Bhutan
Bhutan
Bhutan , officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked state in South Asia, located at the eastern end of the Himalayas and bordered to the south, east and west by the Republic of India and to the north by the People's Republic of China...
, Japan, Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, Taiwan, Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
, Indonesia, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
, Spain, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, South Africa, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, Cambodia, Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, Jordan, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Palestine, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, Uganda, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
, Lithuania, Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, Chile, Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Brazil, Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
, Belize, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Oman, Seychelles
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
, Mauritius and Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
.
Santhosh George Kulangara has also conducted a lengthy expedition
Expedition
An expedition typically refers to a long journey or voyage undertaken for a specific purpose, often exploratory, scientific, geographic, military or political in nature...
through Antarctica. This journey was made along with seven explorers from various countries. The solo adventures of this globetrotting T V-journalist have won the hearts of both critics as well as the lay people, as such a treat was unheard of in the world media itself. By and large the tele-serial ‘Sancharam’ has already become a craze among the viewers.
The Limca Book of Records
Limca Book of Records
Limca Book of Records is a record book of Indian origin. First published in 1990, when the Limca Brand was owned by Parle Group. The book continued to be published by Coca-Cola, when they bought the Limca Brand. The 20th edition of this book was released by Amitabh Bachchan in March 2009...
has included this unique and rarest adventure of Santhosh George Kulangara in its pages. He has already been conferred with over ten prestigious honours including the Asian Television Award, the Film Critics Award and several national awards.
It is his unquenchable enthusiasm for taking up ‘Herculean’ tasks that prompted Santhosh George Kulangara to become the first space tourist from India. When Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic is a company within Richard Branson's Virgin Group which plans to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to the paying public, along with suborbital space science missions and orbital launches of small satellites...
Company announced its space tourism programme in the private sector, he was the first in India to have his name confirmed for the space odyssey.
Space flight training
Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic is a company within Richard Branson's Virgin Group which plans to provide sub-orbital spaceflights to the paying public, along with suborbital space science missions and orbital launches of small satellites...
spaceliner. . The space flight is designed to last two and a half hours in space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
, during which the spaceship
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
will detach from the mother ship
Mother ship
A mother ship is a vessel or aircraft that carries a smaller vessel or aircraft that operates independently from it. Examples include bombers converted to carry experimental aircraft to altitudes where they can conduct their research , or ships that carry small submarines to an area of ocean to be...
at 50,000 ft (15,000 m), the ruising altitude f the Concorde
Concorde
Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...
aircraft. To prepare for the trip he successfully completed medical tests, zero gravity training at Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center
The John F. Kennedy Space Center is the NASA installation that has been the launch site for every United States human space flight since 1968. Although such flights are currently on hiatus, KSC continues to manage and operate unmanned rocket launch facilities for America's civilian space program...
in Florida, and three-day pre-flight preparation, bonding and training at the Mojave desert
Mojave Desert
The Mojave Desert occupies a significant portion of southeastern California and smaller parts of central California, southern Nevada, southwestern Utah and northwestern Arizona, in the United States...
spaceport in California. A specially designed aircraft was used for the training programme. . In January 2008, Virgin Galactic unveiled a model of SpaceShipTwo, for carrying tourists into space and said that construction of the actual flight should be completed in 2008 and is expected to take-off in 2009. In July 2008, he completed the second part of training for space tourists at NASA. He took part in the training at the National Aerospace Training and Research Centre at Southampton
Southampton
Southampton is the largest city in the county of Hampshire on the south coast of England, and is situated south-west of London and north-west of Portsmouth. Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest...
in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. He also attended the launch ceremony of the space vehicle White Knight Two at Mojave spaceport in California.
Other visual media ventures
The film Chandrayaan, based on India's first mission to the moon, written and directed by Santhosh George Kulangara, is possibly the first science fiction movie in Kerala. He is the producer of the Malayalam television-programmes Samayam, Acharya (a documentary about WagamonWagamon
Vagamon is a hill station located in Kottayam-Idukki border of Idukki district of Kerala, India. It has a cool climate with the temperature between 10-23°C during a summer midday. It is situated 1,100 metre above sea level....
), Maluvinte Lokam, Chithirapurathe Visheshangal, and Kerala Vishesham which were produced for Doordarshan
DoorDarshan
Doordarshan is an Indian public service broadcaster, a division of Prasar Bharati. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in India in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters. Recently, it has also started Digital Terrestrial Transmitters. On September 15, 2009,...
. He also directed the documentary Krishnagatha.
He has published two books on his travels and two more are in the processing stage. The published books are Oru Rabbiyude Chumbanangal (Kisses of a Rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
), which talks about his extensive journeys on buses and ships through Eastern Europe, and Nataashayude Varna Baloonukal, which is about the interesting sights and memorable experiences of his travels through Europe. He is also writing a book about his upcoming space voyage.
Awards
President of India
The President of India is the head of state and first citizen of India, as well as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. President of India is also the formal head of all the three branches of Indian Democracy - Legislature, Executive and Judiciary...
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, who gave him a few tips for his space journey. Santhosh George Kulangara was advised by the President to see to it that the children of the nation are benefited by his experiences.