NASA and ISRO proceed discussions about Indian astronaut flight to ISS

LOS ANGELES — NASA and the Indian area company ISRO stay in discussions about flying an Indian astronaut to the Worldwide House Station after America’s ambassador to India mentioned such a mission was nonetheless deliberate for this 12 months.

Talking at an occasion Could 22, Eric Garcetti, U.S. ambassador to India, appeared to substantiate plans described in a joint assertion of the U.S. and Indian governments after a June 2023 assembly in Washington between President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. That assertion mentioned Indian astronauts would practice within the U.S. with the purpose “of mounting a joint effort to the Worldwide House Station in 2024.”

“We’re going to put an Indian astronaut into the Worldwide House Station this 12 months,” Garcetti mentioned, as reported by the Press Belief of India. “We promised when PM Modi got here that by the top of this 12 months, we are going to do that and our mission remains to be on observe to have the ability to go in area this 12 months.”

Neither NASA nor ISRO have supplied formal updates on that effort for the reason that joint assertion. Modi introduced India’s first group of 4 astronauts in February, with the expectation that three of them will fly on the primary crewed flight of India’s Gaganyaan program no sooner than 2025 and considered one of them on a mission to the ISS, however ISRO didn’t announce particular crew assignments.

“Right now, the main points concerning the potential area station flight by an ISRO astronaut are being finalized. As soon as that course of is full, NASA will decide the mission timelines and coaching modules required to fly to the Worldwide House Station,” NASA spokesperson Julian Coltre advised SpaceNews Could 24 in response to questions on Garcetti’s feedback

The joint assertion from final June said that NASA would supply “superior coaching” to Indian astronauts on the Johnson House Heart and that the businesses would develop “a strategic framework for human spaceflight cooperation by the top of 2023.” NASA didn’t reply questions on whether or not any Indian astronauts have began coaching at JSC or if that strategic framework had been accomplished.

The most certainly flight alternative for an Indian astronaut could be on a personal astronaut mission, which might go to the station for as much as two weeks. The following such mission is Axiom House’s Ax-4 mission, slated for late this 12 months, however the firm has not introduced the crew for that mission. If an Indian astronaut does fly on a personal astronaut mission, it’s unclear what NASA’s position could be past giving approvals required for any such flight to the ISS.

Garcetti’s got here simply earlier than he met with S. Somanath, head of ISRO, whereas additionally talking on the U.S.-India Business House Cooperation Convention in Bengaluru. A assertion from the U.S. embassy didn’t go into particulars about his convention speech or assembly with Somanath.

ISRO, in an announcement, mentioned Garcetti and Somanath mentioned a number of cooperative ventures, together with a possible follow-up to the NASA-ISRO Artificial Aperture Radar (NISAR) spacecraft scheduled to launch later this 12 months. ISRO mentioned that Garcetti additionally proposed a “Quad” spacecraft that may contain the Quad international locations of Australia, India, Japan and the USA, however didn’t disclose what that satellite tv for pc would do.

Somanath, the ISRO assertion mentioned, “emphasised constructing and standardizing docking interfaces throughout human area packages to allow the utilization of area platforms by different international locations,” however didn’t in any other case talk about human spaceflight cooperation.

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