Meet Kerala’s Santhosh George Kulangara, who could be India's first space tourist

Kulangara will be paying Rs 1.8 crore for a quick trip into space, besides training costs and other expenses. Isn’t it a bit too expensive?

“It’s not a huge amount. It’s all about one’s perspective. It might seem like a huge amount. But worth it for the experience and the historical significance,” he told The Indian Express.

After finishing his post-graduation in journalism and mass communication from Madurai Kamaraj University, Kulangara established the Labour India Publications, a publishing house providing journals and magazines. In 1997, Kulangara started his first solo travel journeys, which were documented in Sancharam and broadcast on Asianet initially. Kulangara is also a "part-time expert member" of the Kerala State Planning Board.

During his career spanning almost two decades, the founder and "chief explorer" at Safari TV -- a TV channel dedicated to the exploration and travel through the world-- has travelled to over 130 countries across seven continents.

He's also made a full-length English feature film on Chandrayaan-1, eponymously named Chandrayaan. The movie portrayed behind the scenes actions into India's first successful lunar mission.

He said that space travel is just the start of a new era for commercial space colonisation. "Space tourism is purely a futuristic business. This can become the next big thing for humans," he told the Indian Express.

"Like that, space tourism is an investment for the future. We should think about a future when the resources on planet earth are no more enough to sustain all the human beings here. If there is a company experienced in travelling to space and other planets and capable of doing explorations, wouldn’t they stand to benefit from that situation? I foresee colonisation of other planets and initiatives such as space tourism are just means to that end," he added.