Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: An Indian astronaut will fly to the International Space Station by April next year as part of the NASA-ISRO collaborative initiative, Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said on August 21.
Two Indian astronaut-designates Group Captains Shubhanshu Shukla and Prashanth Balakrishnan Nair are undergoing training in the US for the Axiom Space Ax-4 mission. ISRO has assigned Shukla for the Ax-4 mission while Nair would be the backup candidate.
“An Indian astronaut will travel to the ISS by April next year,” Jitendra Singh told a press conference ahead of the first-ever National Space Day celebrations to mark the landing of Vikram lander on the Moon on August 23 last year.
The theme for the National Space Day is Touching Lives while Touching the Moon: India’s Space Saga. On the occasion, ISRO will release on August 23 the scientific data collected by the Chandrayaan-3 mission that could be used by researchers.
More than one thousand events have been organised across the country over the last two months. President Droupadi Murmu will participate in the National Space Day celebrations at the Bharat Mandapam here and give away prizes to the winners of the Bharatiya Antariksh Hackathon and ISRO Robotics Challenge.
Briefing reporters on the upcoming space missions, ISRO Scientific Secretary Shantanu Bhatawdekar said the ISRO-NASA joint mission NISAR was expected to be launched after February next year.
