Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: India is all set for a significant milestone as it prepares to send an astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS). Space Minister Jitendra Singh recently announced in Lok Sabha that an Indian astronaut, referred to as a gaganyaatri, will soon travel to the ISS as part of an upcoming mission. This mission is a collaborative effort between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), NASA, and the private company, Axiom Space.
In a written response to a query from Trinamool Congress MLA Saugata Roy, Singh detailed that the joint mission with NASA will involve one astronaut from ISRO, who will travel to the ISS, as per a Times of India report.
This partnership has been formalised through a space flight agreement with Axiom Space. NASA has also confirmed this collaboration, noting that the mission, designated as Axiom-4, is slated to launch no earlier than August 2024 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The selected astronaut for the ISS mission will be one of four Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots currently in training for Isro’s Gaganyaan mission. These astronauts were chosen by ISRO’s Astronaut Selection Board and have previously undergone basic spaceflight training in Russia during the Covid-19 pandemic. They are now continuing their training at Isro’s Astronauts Training Facility in Bengaluru.
