India to Send Astronaut from Historic ‘Gaganyaan Mission’ for NASA-ISRO's ISS Mission in 2024

India will send one IAF test pilot from landmark ‘Gaganyaan’ project for International Space Station (ISS) joint mission planned by United States’ space agency NASA and ISRO for end of year 2024. 

Indian astronaut will be launched aboard ISS owing to huge success of Chandrayaan-3 and itya-L1 missions of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

"This mission will be planned ahe of India's human spaceflight mission to give astronauts enough opportunity to learn from ISS mission to plan well for Gaganyaan,” Prime Minister said during his visit to Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday, where he conferred upon Gaganyaan mission crew ‘astronaut wings.’

PM previously hailed US-India space mission at G20 summit, as plan to send Indian and American astronauts was finalised between space agencies of two nations by end of 2023.

One Indian astronaut, trained in Moscow, to he for ISS 2024 mission

Of four test pilots trained extensively in Russia at Glavkosmos, subsidiary of Russian space agency Roscosmos, one will be sent on spaceflight to ISS. Indian test pilots were trained at Gagarin Research & Test Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC) under contract between Glavkosmos, JSC (part of State Space Corporation Roscosmos) and Human Spaceflight Center of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Four Indian Air Force (IAF) fighter pilots were given extensive training in Moscow for India’s first-ever manned space mission, Gaganyaan project, Russian space agency Roscosmos said. It shared progress on Indian pilots’ training under ambitious Rs 10,000-crore project on X, formerly Twitter. IAF's pilots received oretical classes on Russian language as manned spacecraft’s basics of astrogation for Gaganyaan mission will be in Russian.

agreement to train Indian astronauts in Moscow was signed on June 27, 2019, between Glavkosmos, a subsidiary of Moscow, Human Spaceflight Center of ISRO, and JSC (part of State Space Corporation Roscosmos). training for IAF pilots started on February 10, 2020. After completion of training in Russia, Indian astronauts were sent back for module-specific training in India. Gaganyaan mission’s service module has been designed by ISRO.

In 1984, first Indian cosmonaut Rakesh Sharma flew a historic flight onboard Russian Soyuz T-11 spacecraft with two Soviet cosmonauts. Almost 44 years later, Indian astronauts, who have been trained in Russia, prepare for Indian Human Spaceflight Programme Gaganyaan.

Biden hails India-US space cooperation; inking Artemis Accords partnership & lauding Chandrayaan-3 mission's success

Collaboration between NASA and ISRO was struck during President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Modi's meeting at G20. India also became a member of Artemis Accords, an American-led effort to return humans to Moon by 2026. US President Biden hailed Prime Minister Modi and Indians for remarkable success of Chandrayaan-3 mission that marked India’s reach on moon’s never-before explored dark south polar region.

After holding talks with Prime Minister Modi, Biden said, that US is “determined to deepen our partnership in outer space exploration.” He announced that ISRO and National Aeronautics and Space ministration (NASA) “have commenced discussions on modalities, capacity building, and training for mounting a joint effort to International Space Station in 2024.”

“Regarding space-related matters, we are pleased to announce that India will be joining Artemis Accords. se accords promote a shared vision for space exploration, aiming to benefit humanity as a whole," a senior ministration official stated to PTI ahe of Prime Minister Modi's meeting with US President Biden.

Biden, who applauded India’s space milestones, affirmed his vision of United States and India to be among closest space partners in world, and set a course to reach new frontiers across all sectors of space cooperation. 

Welcoming decision of NASA and India’s ISRO, Biden and Prime Minister Modi lauded American and Indian cooperation on earth and space science, and space technologies. NASA and ISRO have developed a strategic framework for human spaceflight cooperation.

Indian astronaut for ISS mission to be trained in US

White House said that NASA will provide training to Indian astronauts at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, with goal of mounting a joint effort to International Space Station in 2024. “re is an opportunity to share science," NASA ministrator Bill Nelson said during his visit to Bengaluru, where he inspected NISAR satellite. Approximately size of SUV, NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) is a low-Earth orbit observatory system that has been jointly developed by NASA and ISRO.

NASA will transport NASA-ISRO Syntic Aperture Rar (NISAR) satellite to ISRO’s U.R. Rao Satellite Centre in Bengaluru, India for joint ISS mission. It aims to modernize ratified 1967 Outer Space Treaty. ISRO-NASA’s NISAR will map entire planet once every 12 days and will study change in space’s ecosystem including ice mass, vegetation biomass, sea level rise, groundwater and natural hazards.

Biden welcomed India’s Space Policy, as he pushed for an enhanced commercial collaboration between US and Indian private sectors in value chain of space economy. “President Biden deeply appreciated India’s signing of Artemis Accords, which vance a common vision of space exploration for benefit of all humankind,” White House said.

India and United States have also inked cooperation agreements on enhancing coordination on planetary defence to protect planet Earth and space assets from impact of asteroids and near-Earth objects, including US support for India's participation in asteroid detection and tracking via Minor Planet Center. two countries have also agreed to establish a working group for commercial space collaboration under existing India-US Civil Space Joint Working Group.