On flying the F/A-18 at a speed of 810 km/ hour, the wing commander said, "The aircraft was very agile, the way a good fighter plane should be. The aircraft does all sorts of manoeuvres and we did aerobatics, apart from some work with the radars. It felt good to feel the controls and also the power of the aircraft. I realised that I definitely haven't forgotten to fly."
Sharma observed that there was a big difference between his space flight nearly 20 years ago and the current experience.
"The space flight was zero gravity for eight days, while this flight was six gigahertz most of the time. It was not a scary experience at all. I have flown in the zero gravity zone and this was g6," he added.
Speaking on his preparedness, Sharma said that this was a demonstration flight and the idea was to understand the capability of the aircraft.
Image: A file photo of astronaut Sunita Williams with Rakesh Sharma.
Photograph: Reuben N V
Also see: I can go to space again: Rakesh Sharma
Advertisement
