Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday that an Indian astronaut is likely to fly to the International Space Station by April next year as part of the NASA-ISRO collaborative initiative.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) earlier this month announced that its Human Space Flight Centre has partnered with Axiom Space Inc from the USA for the Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station (ISS), for which India's Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla has been shortlisted.
For the above mission, a National Mission Assignment Board has recommended two 'Gaganyatris' as prime and backup pilot, Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla (prime) and Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair (backup).
“The assigned crewmembers will be finally approved to fly to the International Space Station by the Multilateral Crew Operations Panel (MCOP). The recommended 'Gaganyatris' will commence their training for the mission from the first week of August 2024,” ISRO said in a statement.
The two Indian astronaut-designates are undergoing training in the US for the Axiom Space Ax-4 mission.
An Indian astronaut will travel to the ISS by April next year," Singh said during a press conference in Delhi 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.
