‘Bihu goes global’: US astronaut performs Assamese dance on International Space Station; Himanta Sarma shares video

New Delhi: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Sunday shared a video of US astronauts performing Bihu (the indigenous folk dance of the state) on board the International Space Station (ISS).Sarma thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for paying “special attention” to Bihu.“Bihu at the International Space Station. Hats off to astronaut Mike Fincke for this special gesture to Assam culture. Great to see Bihu going global, especially after the special attention given by Adarniya Shri @narendramodi ji during #BihuBinandia,” he wrote on X along with the video.‘Bihu Binandia’ is a major cultural show held in Guwahati in April 2023 with around 10,000 performers. Prime Minister Modi witnessed the event. According to a report in The Assam Tribune, the video of Funk performing Bihu did not surface recently but has resurfaced online. Its release comes at a time when the state celebrates Rongali Bihu (marking the Assamese New Year). In the video, Funk is seen dancing to traditional Bihu music while wearing a symbolic Assamese hand-woven scarf around his neck. His wife Renita Saikia is from Assam and also works for NASA. The couple has three children. Edward Michael “Mike” Fink is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who was selected as an astronaut in 1996, according to NASA. A native of Pennsylvania, he will fly to the International Space Station for the fourth time on August 1, 2025, as a pilot on the SpaceX Crew-11 mission. The mission splashed down on January 15th and came to a successful conclusion.