Thiruvananthapuram: Palakkad native Prasanth Nair is the Malayali face among the four test pilots shortlisted for the Gaganyaan mission, India's first manned space mission.  

The other astronauts are -- Angad Prathap, Ajit Krishnan, and Shubhanshu Shukla.

Prasanth, hailing from Nenmara, joined the Air Force in 1999 after completing engineering at NSS College, Palakkad. He received the sword of honour given to the best-performing cadet during overall training in 1998. He is a Sukhoi fighter pilot Group Captain and has been undergoing training for India's dream mission for the past few years. He was also the first rank holder at the United States Air Force Air Command and Staff College.

The project envisages launching a crew of three humans into an orbit of 400 km by next year for a three-day mission and bringing them back safely.