India will send 3 astronauts to space for 5-7 days, where they will conduct micro-gravity tests.

NEW DELHI/MOSCOW: Russia will select and train four Indian astronauts out of the 12 India will send to the country for an intense training in order to prepare them for India’s maiden human spaceflight programme or Gaganyaan mission , scheduled for launch by early 2022, the deadline fixed by PM Narendra Modi during his I-Day speech last year. Under the Rs 10,000 crore manned space mission, India will send at least three Indians to space for 5-7 days, where they will conduct various micro-gravity tests.

Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) chairman K Sivan told TOI that "India will send 12 astronauts to Russia. Of them, Russia will select and train four for the advanced training".

During a recent meeting between Russian space agency Roscosmos director general Dmitry Rogozin and national security adviser Ajit Doval in Moscow, the two sides had discussed on selection and training of four Indian astronauts at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City of Moscow Oblast to prepare them for the space mission, a Roscosmos statement said. After the Russian training, the four astronauts will be prepared for the mission back in India in the remaining months before the launch by December 2021 or early 2022.

The two countries also discussed Indian-crewed flight carrier rocket aerodynamic tests, piloted vehicle and crew rescue system. The two sides are also likely to negotiate the contracts for supply of crew seats, windows and spacesuits.

If India’s Gaganyaan mission is successful, it will become the fourth country in the world after Russia, the US and China to be capable of sending astronauts to space.

Russia is helping India’s manned mission in three aspects. “The first area of cooperation is in selection and training of space crew. Though it’s first for us, they are very experienced in this vital part of the manned space mission,” India’s ambassador to Russia D B Venkatesh Varma told TOI. Russia is also helping India with the simulation of the mission and selection of a module for it. “Lots of simulation are must before the actual mission. The selection of a suitable module is also critical for this mission. They are helping us with both,” he said.

On June 27, Roscosmos subsidiary Glavkosmos and Indian Space Research Organisation had signed a contract for the selection and training of Indian astronauts.

More discussions between India and Russia on Gaganyaan and other areas of space cooperation are likely to take place when a PM Narendra Modi-led top-level delegation will go to Russia’s Vladivostok for the Eastern Economic Forum meeting from September 4 to 6.

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