Chandrayaan - indian mission to moon

Indian and Russian are going to revive the joint manned mission project. Rakesh sharma, India's first astronaut, rode to the SALYUT 7 space station 24 years ago and now after the chandrayaan mission in mid-september, India's indigenous manned mission will go into top gear.


Both countries have formed a joint working committee to work out details. The panel is headed by Dr P S Sastry, director of the Advanced Technology Office and Launch Vehicle Programmes of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).


The salient aspect of the new mission will be its flexibility about the crew.

“We won’t restrict it to just Air Force pilots. It will be a nationwide search. And cosmonauts who satisfy basic parameters will be shortlisted,” sources said.

The idea is to select 200 prospective candidates for a second level of screening after the preliminary survey. “We will prepare a list of 20 people. The best two will fly on Soyuz in three years to spend some time on the International Space Station,” sources said.

After the initial training in India, the crew will go to Russia to train with other members of the project. The revival of the joint mission gives ISRO a chance to install infrastructure needed for its own programme.

“The selection process will help us to prepare our own policy for the crew for the Indian mission. We will be able to learn and write a new text with the help of Russians who are experienced in manned missions,” sources said.

A detailed report of the Rs 10,000 crore project has been submitted to the government and the design of the space craft is complete. India plans to conduct three more experimental flights of its Space Recovery Experiment capsule to perfect re-entry techniques.