US and India to work closely to elevate bilateral space partnership to higher orbits

The United States has proposed training an Indian astronaut as part of future cooperation in the space sector. But the proposed training is not for the astronauts who are part of India’s first human space mission Gaganyaan, said a senior official of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The US will provide advanced training for an Indian astronaut as part of the future cooperation and the two countries will cooperate on planetary defence against dangerous asteroids and comets, according to the White House, which stated earlier this month.

Strengthening cooperation in human space flight through an exchange that includes advanced training for an Indian astronaut at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, was among the initiatives launched at the inaugural meeting of the US-India initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) in Washington, the White House said.

“The US has proposed to train an Indian astronaut. It is part of the future engagement and not for Gaganyaan. No plan has been finalised on training of the Indian astronaut for Gaganyaan mission by the US,” the ISRO official said.

Refuting reports that states the Gaganyaan astronauts to be trained by the US, the official said the US proposal is only in a discussion stage.

Four Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots have undergone astronaut training in Russia for the Gaganyaan mission.

India plans to send twothree astronauts to space under its first human space mission.

In 1984, an IAF pilot Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to fly into space on a Soviet Union’s Soyuz T-11 spacecraft.

The only Indian citizen to have been in outer space is Rakesh Sharma, a former Air Force pilot who flew on a Soviet Soyuz mission in 1984.

Sharma and another IAF pilot Ravish Malhotra underwent training at Soviet Union’s Star City facility.