Meet Arvi Bahal, The 79-Year-Old Sikh American Set To Fly To Space With Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin

At 79, most people are winding down, but Arvinder Singh Bahal, better known as Arvi Bahal, is moving upwards, quite literally! On August 3, the Agra-born adventurer will take off aboard Blue Origin’s NS-34 mission, stepping into a domain few civilians ever reach: space.

Arvi Bahal: All Set To Head To Space

According to the Hindustan Times, known simply as ‘Arvi’ to friends and followers, Bahal is no ordinary space tourist. A naturalised American citizen and a globetrotter in the truest sense, he has travelled to every single country in the world. Yes, that’s 196 countries in total, crossing all seven continents. He holds a private pilot’s licence and is the author and curator of The Tireless Traveler, a chronicle of his lifetime of exploration.

His journey began in Agra in 1945, within sight of the Taj Mahal. As a young man, Bahal was on track for a career in the Indian armed forces, having enrolled in the National Defence Academy. But after stepping away, he pivoted to a different life, spending several years managing tea plantations in Darjeeling before entering the garment business on the outskirts of Delhi. In 1975, he arrived in the United States with just $108 in his pocket and a suitcase full of merchandise. By the end of the decade, he had secured US citizenship and married Pamela, with whom he shares two children and several grandchildren.

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All About The Timeless Traveller

Welcome to Astronaut Village, NS-34 Crew! pic.twitter.com/XxOhuCpbLJ

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) August 1, 2025

Professionally, Bahal heads Bahal Properties, a real estate firm based in Massachusetts. His foray into property investment began with a modest purchase in Canada during a work trip. The returns impressed him, and what began as a side venture quickly evolved into a career that allowed him both income and freedom to keep exploring the world.

But Earth was never the final frontier for him. For over a decade, Bahal has been seeking a way to venture into space. At one point, he held the designation of “Future Astronaut No. 326” with Virgin Galactic. This dream fizzled when the company shuttered its space tourism programme in 2023. Still, the fascination endured. In 2012, he posted images of a rocket launch and now, in 2025, he’s packing for liftoff.

The NS-34 mission by Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’s aerospace venture, will lift off from West Texas. This marks Blue Origin’s 34th launch and its 14th human spaceflight. To date, the programme has flown 70 civilians past the Kármán line, the edge of Earth’s atmosphere. Bahal joins a distinguished group on this mission: Turkish businessman Gokhan Erdem, Puerto Rican meteorologist Deborah Martorell, British philanthropist Lionel Pitchford, entrepreneur JD Russell, and Justin Sun, Grenada’s former ambassador to the WTO, as stated by Hindustan Times. 

Blue Origin’s New Shepard capsule promises a brief but unforgettable experience, just over 10 minutes from liftoff to landing, but enough to witness the curvature of the Earth and float in microgravity. The company welcomed Bahal with a post on X: “Welcome to Astronaut Village, NS-34 Crew!”

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For Bahal, whose life has spanned continents, careers, and the most remote corners of the planet, this flight is not a culmination; it is simply the next horizon.

Cover Image Courtesy: blueorigin/X