Exclusive: Indian astronauts' US training from August; spaceflight by year-end

Two Indian astronauts from the existing pool of four astronaut designates (specially selected test pilots of the Indian Air Force) will be training at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Texas, from early August, ISRO Chief,Dr. S. Somanath told WION.

He added that one of the two NASA-trained Indian astronauts would later fly on the upcoming Indo-US mission to the International Space Station.

The NASA training of Indian astronauts and the Indo-US mission to the International Space Station (ISS) wasannounced by US President Joe Biden, during Indian Prime Minister Modi's state visit to the US in June 2023.

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The NASA training and the joint ISS mission are meant to serve as precursors to India's homegrown Human Spaceflight programme:Gaganyaan.

Responding to a query from WION, US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti expressed confidence that the Indo-US crewed mission to the ISS would take place by 2024-end.

The question was raised based on recent reports that thismission would be pushed to early 2025. Infact, President Biden had specifically announced in June 2023 that the joint crewed mission would be executed in 2024.

Ambassador Garcetti was speaking at theUS-India Defence Conclave organised by CUTS International.

Incidentally, this Indo-US astronaut mission comes forty years after India's first and only astronaut Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma flew on a Soyuz T-11 rocket to the Soviet Salyut-7 Space station in April 1984.

Indian Air Force's Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma (centre), flight engineer Gennady Strekalov (L) and commander Yury Malyshev (R) alongside the screengrabs of the-then Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's interaction with Rakesh Sharma |spacefacts.de/YouTube via Indian National Congress

Queried on the specifics of the Indo-US mission, Ambassador Garcetti told WION that it would be executed by American private firms SpaceX and Axiom.

SpaceX's Falcon9 rocket would be the launcher and the Crew Dragon would be the capsule, whereas Axiom will serve as a facilitator of this effort.

For the last four years, SpaceX has been the lone US option to ferry astronauts to the space station and back. Boeing Starliner is meant to be the other American offering in this lucrative segment but the ongoing technical issues with Starliner and its overstaying in space would further delay routine missions by Starliner.

What is India's Gaganyaan?

India has revealed the names of four astronaut candidates who are to fly on the country's homegrown 'Gaganyaan' programme that aims to fly an astronaut-carrying capsule to earth orbit (400kms above the planet's surface) and bring them back safely for an oceanic splashdown landing.

Gaganyaan would be carried out by the Indian Space Agency ISRO, with test pilots of the Indian Air Force, serving as the crew members.

The four candidates have already completed their training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Moscow, and are presently undergoing training at ISRO and Indian Air Force facilities, while also assisting ISRO teams in designing and developing some systems required for Gaganyaan.

Gaganyaan is the first step in a series of sustained human spaceflight missions that India wants to carry out in a phased manner. By the end of this decade, India hopes to put an uncrewed space station in Earth orbit. By 2035, it would be used as a crewed Indian outpost that's circling the earth.

India also plans to land its astronauts on the moon by 2040.

Coming asa precursor to Gaganyaan, the Indo-US Astronaut mission would help India gain contemporary spaceflight experience, something that only Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma has from his Soviet-era spaceflight in 1984.

With spaceflight technologies having drastically changed, the contemporary spaceflight experience would offer valuable technological and experiential insights.

At present, India is in the process of gradually testing various systems and technologies required to execute an uncrewed Gaganyaan mission, slated for later this year or in early 2025. After a couple of flawless uncrewed missions, India will embark on the astronaut-carrying mission, perhaps, by 2026.

ISRO Chief Dr S.Somanath had earlier told WION that human spaceflight is a highly challenging endeavour and how India only had the minimal experience of Rakesh Sharma's flight in 1984.

Also watch |Indian astronauts to train at NASA from August

He added that the Indian astronauts have to "touch, feel, and experience space" and how the mission to Space station would help ISRO in its own Gaganyaan efforts.

In another significant collaborative effort, India's GSLV Mk2 rocket will be launching an Indo-US satellite known as NISAR - NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR).

NISAR is an all-weather earth observation satellite that will help study the vital signs of the earth, such as the temperature, ice melting, deforestation, and many more important parameters that help better understand climate change, natural calamities etc.

NISAR was to launch by mid-2024 but has been delayed owing to technical glitches in the satellite components. NISAR is expected to launch by 2024-end or early 2025.