SAMARA, January 30. /TASS/. A group of Indian astronauts will arrive in Russia in February to undergo training, Chief of Russia’s Cosmonaut Training Center Pavel Vlasov announced on Thursday.

"They are arriving in February and the program is intended for one year and a half," Vlasov said.

The Indian astronauts will be training in ‘the spacecraft commander’ and ‘spacecraft flight engineer’ specialties. They will undergo training on Russian Soyuz spaceships.

It was earlier reported that four representatives of India would undergo a selection procedure and training at Russia’s Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in August 2018 that his country would independently send the first national crew into orbit by 2022 when the country celebrates the 75th anniversary of its independence. So far, the flight is scheduled for the end of 2021. Before that, two spaceships are expected to be launched in their uncrewed version. The first Indian manned mission is called Gaganyan (from the Sanskrit word ‘gagana’ - the sky), i.e. the sky vehicle.