's Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM) is considering the candidates with bad teeth as ineligible from entering into the space.){kind=link}
Indian Air Force (IAF)’s Institute of Aerospace Medicine (IAM) is considering the candidates with bad teeth as ineligible from entering into the space.
Out of the 60 candidates, who applied to become Gaganauts for Gaganyaan, India’s first human space mission, only 12 were shortlisted. A majority of 48 candidates who were rejected, was only due to the bad teeth.
For the last 45 days, the selected candidates underwent generic training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training centre in Russia. Seven out of 12 candidates have completed the training so far. They will undergo other tests in India and three among them will be picked for the proposed launch by 2022.
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”Dental problems were one of the major reasons because of which many candidates got rejected during the screening test in July and August,” said the Indian Society of Aerospace Medicine fraternity at a conference.
According to Air Commodore Anupam Agrawal, the Russians are so particular about the teeth as they had to abort a mission due to a toothache.
Europe’s space agencies like ESA had revealed that a good teeth is important to astronauts because acceleration forces and vibrations during a space flight can be very strong and ill fittings could become loose or fall out, and the atmospheric pressure change may be painful when cavities are present.