On April 3, 1984, Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to go into space as a member of a joint Soviet-Indian crew on the Soyuz T-11 spacecraft. He spent a week working at the Salyut-7 Orbital Station.
On 40th Anniversary of spaceflight of the first Indian cosmonaut, Rakesh Sharma, aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz T-11 in 1984, Babushkin emphasised the enduring partnership between Russia and India in the space sector.
As part of the celebration of space exploration and international collaboration, the Russian House in Chennai, in partnership with the Russian news agency TASS, inaugurated a photo exhibition "The 40 Years of the first flight of an Indian cosmonaut."